Reports that thousands of residents of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have been forcibly deported to Russia are “alarming” and “unconscionable” if true, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Thomas-Greenfield said the United States has yet to confirm the allegations made on Saturday by the Mariupol City Council via its Telegram channel.
– I just heard. I cannot confirm this,” she said. “But I can say that it is disturbing. It is shameless on the part of Russia to force citizens of Ukraine to enter Russia and place them in what will essentially be a concentration camp and a prisoner of war camp.”
According to the UN Human Rights Office, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, which led to a conflict that, as of March 19, has killed more than 900 civilians and injured about 1,500.
Mariupol on the Black Sea has been surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for more than two weeks. [Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]
Mariupol, a key link to the Black Sea, has been a target since the start of the war, which Russian President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and the West say that Putin launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
The Mariupol City Council also said that Russian troops bombed an art school on Saturday, which had taken refuge for 400 residents, but the number of casualties is not yet known.
The Reuters news agency was unable to independently verify the city council’s reports. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, but Russia denied it had targeted civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow.
The US supports these efforts, Thomas-Greenfield said on Sunday, adding that the talks “appear to be one-sided” with little to no response from Russia.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the conflict and the reaction of the 30-member alliance.
Thomas-Greenfield reaffirmed US President Joe Biden’s commitment to refrain from bringing US troops into Ukraine. [File: Carlo Allegri/Reuters]
Poland will formally propose a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine at a meeting, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last week.
Asked about Poland’s proposal, Thomas-Greenfield reaffirmed President Joe Biden’s commitment to refrain from bringing U.S. troops into Ukraine.
“Other NATO countries may decide that they want to send troops to the territory of Ukraine,” she said. “That will be the decision they have to make.”
“We’re trying to do our best”
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, speaking on CNN later Sunday, said she would pressure NATO to build up its military capabilities in Eastern Europe and call on all member countries to dedicate at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product to defense. .
Kallas said the accusations of deporting Ukrainians to Russia are reminiscent of the thousands of Estonians sent to Siberian labor camps in the 1940s.
“Now we are in a different position because we are NATO allies,” she said. “But we are trying to do everything we can to support and help Ukraine fight this war.”
Turkey is also trying to mediate a ceasefire in Ukraine, which was praised by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
“Turkey is making real efforts to try to facilitate and support the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. “It is too early to say whether these negotiations can lead to any concrete result.”
Earlier this month, NATO rejected calls from Ukraine to create a “no-fly zone” over Ukraine to help it protect its skies from Russian missiles and warplanes.
Asked on Sunday whether a no-fly zone would be considered if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine, Stoltenberg expressed concern that such a move could escalate the conflict.
“Our allies support Ukraine,” he said. “But at the same time, it is extremely important that we do not allow this conflict to turn into a full-fledged war between NATO and Russia, which will cause much more damage, much more death, destruction than what we are seeing now in Ukraine.”