Ukraine claims thousands of Mariupol residents being forced into Russian camps

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry says Russian forces have taken 6,000 Mariupol residents to camps against their will. Russian troops are confiscating identity documents from an additional 15,000 people in a section of Mariupol under Russian control, the ministry says.

Ukrainian military intelligence says Ukrainian civilians are being sent through a camp in Russian-controlled territory, then onward through southern regions of Russia to economically depressed parts of the country.

Some could be sent as far as the Pacific Ocean island of Sakhalin, Ukrainian intelligence says, and are being offered jobs on condition they don’t leave for two years.

The claims cannot be independently verified. Russia has said it is evacuating thousands of civilians of their own free will.