Death toll in Mariupol crosses 2,000 as humanitarian convoy forced to turn back

By AFP 14 March 2022, 1:52 am Edit

A fire burns at an apartment building after it was hit by the shelling of a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A total of 2,187 residents have now died in days of relentless Russian bombardment on Mariupol, the city council says.

A humanitarian column headed there had to turn back again, a city official tells AFP, after the Russians “did not stop firing.”

“The enemy is holding the city hostage by performing real acts of genocide,” says Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Zelensky has accused Moscow of both blocking and attacking humanitarian convoys, although he said earlier today that another 125,000 people have been evacuated that way across Ukraine.

“Russians are bombing the city even during official negotiations,” Reznikov says. “They have no dignity, no honor, no mercy.”