Kyiv, March 24 (Agency) Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday accused Russian forces of forcibly deporting about 6,000 Mariupol residents to Russian filtration camps. The ministry said that people who survived Russian bombing and shelling are now being deported to Russia. MFA Ukraine, in a statement, said: “The Russian Federation has launched a new phase of terror against the city of Mariupol. Residents who survived Russian bombing and artillery shelling are now being forcibly deported to Russia.” “15,000 residents of the Left Bank district of Mariupol are in grave danger. The Russian occupiers are forcing them to move to Russia. The invaders confiscate people’s passports and other identity documents, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said. “According to the information available, the Russian army has forcibly deported about 6,000 Mariupol residents to Russian filtration camps in order to use them as hostages and put more political pressure on Ukraine,” the ministry claimed.
“At the same time, the Russian armed forces are firing on evacuation columns trying to leave Mariupol for the territory of Ukraine free from Russian occupation. Russian troops continue to hold in detention a humanitarian convoy of buses that arrived a few days ago from Zaporizhia to take people from Mariupol,” it added. “Such actions by Russia are a gross violation of the laws and customs of war, the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.” “We call on the world leaders gathered in Brussels today for the NATO, Group of Seven and EU summits to take urgent action to save the lives of the residents of Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities who have found themselves in an inhumane siege by the Russian army,” the statement read. The ministry also urged the international community to impose new sanctions on Russia as well as cut off all business ties with Russian companies to stop funding Russia’s war against Ukraine.