Officials believe at least 22,000 people were killed during months of combat in the south-eastern port city of Mariupol, said an aide to the mayor of Mariupol.
Petro Andryushchenko told CNN the number of 22,000 is based on the numerous interactions with authorities still resident in the city. However, he believes the actual number of fatalities is significantly higher.
“It is absolutely dark inside the city. The only lights are from Russian troops and Russian patrols,” Andryushchenko told CNN. “Everywhere it’s the smell of death and the smell of fire.”
The process of reburying the dead has also been hampered, according to the mayor's counsel, by Russian officials.
Russian forces demand that reclaimed bodies be sent to a mortuary and that anybody claiming a body agree to produce a video in which the applicant needs to say that the deceased was slain by Ukrainian forces.
Andryushchenko further said according to information he received from his network of sources, Mariupol has been pushed back into the "Middle Ages."
Picture Credits: Reuters
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