(EFE).- Thousands of civilians in the besieged city of Mariúpol, on the coast of the Sea of Azov, are resisting ongoing bombardment by Russian troops taking shelter in the facilities of the Azovstal Steel Works, an old metallurgical plant that opened in the 1980s. 1930s.
“Civilians, including women and children, are taking refuge in the facilities of Azovstal Plant,” Mariupol police chief Mykhailo Wershynin said in a statement on a local TV show on Monday, according to Ukrinform agency.
Vershynin made the comments while speaking on the show with former Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov about the situation in the city, which has been under siege by Russian troops for weeks.
According to Avakov, “A lot of people live in the Azovstal bunkers: women, old people, children. They all (live) in terrible conditions, without medicine, without food, without water.”
“The Russians force civilians to wear a white bandage on their right leg and left arm, like in the army of the Russian Federation and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.”
All these people hid in the cellars and grottos of these old blast furnaces from the constant bombardments that practically destroyed the entire city.
The former minister denounced that the Russians “to cover up their crimes are using the remaining civilian population in Mariupol to dig up rubble, collect corpses and dig mass graves”.
“People work for the food” they get from the Russian military, he charged.
In addition, “Russians are forcing civilians to wear a white bandage on their right leg and left arm, as in the army of the Russian Federation and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic” (a pro-Russian Ukrainian region whose sovereignty is recognized by Moscow).
In this way, you are forcing local residents “to pose as combatants and intentionally sending them to the shooting ranges where people can die,” added the former minister.
The city of Mariupol once had a population of half a million and today there are only about 100,000 residents facing a humanitarian catastrophe due to lack of basic services.
Moscow this weekend issued an ultimatum to the city’s residents and militants to surrender, which Ukraine refused.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The 14ymedio team is committed to serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long journey. We invite you to continue to support us, but this time by becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue to transform journalism in Cuba.