Mariupol mayor says lives of city’s trapped residents are in Putin’s hands


April 21 (Reuters) – Only Russian President Vladimir Putin can decide the fate of the 100,000 civilians still trapped in war-torn Mariupol, Ukraine, Mayor Vadym Boichenko told Reuters on Thursday, saying satellite images of a mass grave were proof that the Russians were burying bodies to try to hide the death toll.

Earlier, Putin claimed victory in the battle for Mariupol after a nearly two-month siege that has led to the war’s most intense battles and worst humanitarian catastrophe. Under heavy bombardment, citizens who did not flee have suffered without electricity, heat or water. read more

“It is important to understand that the lives that are still there are in the hands of one person: Vladimir Putin. And all the deaths that will happen after now will also be in his hands,” Boichenko said in an interview.

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Putin said on Thursday that Russian troops had “liberated” Mariupol, which would make it the largest city to fall to Russian hands since the start of what Moscow calls a “special military operation.” Russia denies targeting civilians.

“There were no plans to liberate the city. It was a destruction plan,” Boichenko said. He estimated that 90% of the southeastern port city had been damaged or destroyed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

“Today, at all levels, we are only talking about one thing: we need a ceasefire, we need a complete evacuation of the 100,000 residents of Mariupol who are prisoners of the Russian forces, and we need to free all the people who are in Azovstal.”

While Russian troops now control most of the city, a contingent of Ukrainian fighters is holding out in the underground bunkers of the Azovstal steel complex, alongside hundreds of civilians in desperate conditions, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Putin had told the defenders to lay down their arms and surrender or die.

“Soldiers are not ready to surrender, they are ready to leave with only weapons in hand and continue to defend our homeland, our Ukraine,” said Boichenko, who became mayor in 2015.

Boichenko said he was still hopeful something could be done to help those trapped in the city despite the collapse of a ceasefire deal this week under which 90 buses were to evacuate some 6,000 people. read more

Ceasefire agreements have repeatedly failed, with both sides trading blame. Many of those who have left have fled in private cars or on foot.

A small convoy was able to leave the city on Wednesday and arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday.

“Today was a historic event: 57 days of war and only the first four buses left Mariupol,” Boichenko said.

The city administration believes that tens of thousands of Mariupol residents have been killed since the start of the war, although it admits the challenges of estimating an exact death toll as the fighting intensifies.

On Thursday, a review of satellite images by US company Maxar Technologies showed a mass grave outside Mariupol that has been expanded in recent weeks to contain more than 200 new graves. read more

Boichenko said the photos were evidence that Russian forces were burying bodies to hide the scale of the death toll in the city. Russia denies what Ukraine says is evidence of atrocities, calling them staged.

“It’s a fact. They brought them in, turned them over and buried them. That’s what they do, cynically hiding their war crimes in these mass graves,” Boichenko said.

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Written by Alessandra Prentice, Edited by Rosalba O’Brien

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.



Reference-www.reuters.com

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