It comes after Russia late on Friday declared victory in the fierce, months-long battle for the strategic southern port city.
Deportation of civilians
According to Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupol’s mayor, buses are being made available for local residents to evacuate from the city, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
However, the evacuees are in fact being taken to Russia, Andryuschenko warned.
The official took to social media, posting footage of a large group of local people congregating around buses.
Andryushchenko wrote: “Mariupol. For the first time, we can see how deportation is taking place. Metro District. Buses are arriving, and evacuation is announced. After boarding only, people are told the bus is going to the village of Bezimenne, Novoazovsk District, and then to Russia.”
‘Surrealism has become reality in Mariupol’
He added: “The Russian military and ‘authorised volunteers’ are preventing any attempts to leave a seat and refuse evacuation. The 21st century. In the heart of Europe. The deportation of civilians. Surrealism has become a reality in Mariupol.”
On Friday, Andryushchenko announced that in the last 24 hours, 512 Mariupol residents had been taken to a Russian filtration camp in the village of Bezimenne.
Local people are sent there for questioning, before being deported to Russia, the PAP news agency reported.
Saturday is day 87 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm)
Source: PAP, ukrinform.net, Reuters