Putin has been accused of deporting Ukrainians to ‘filtration’ centers before forcibly transporting them to distant Siberian settlements after seizing their phones and passports.
According to the Mariupol municipal council, ‘thousands’ of people have been abducted thus far before being processed through ‘filtration camps’ and shipped to’remote cities’ in Russia, where they will be forced to stay for years and work for free.
Hundreds of refugees from the beleaguered southeastern port city of Mariupol have recently arrived in Russia, according to Russian news sources.
A trainload of over 280 Ukrainians was also’rescued’ from Mariupol, according to Moscow officials, who showed film of them applauding Russian forces.
Vadym Boichenko, the mayor of Mariupol, compared the alleged forced deportations to prisoner transportation.
‘What the occupiers are doing now is familiar to the elder generation, who witnessed the awful events of World War II, when the Nazis forcibly captured people,’ Boichenko added. It’s difficult to believe that people can be forcibly relocated to another country in the twenty-first century.’
Late on Sunday, Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev requested that Ukrainian military and ‘foreign mercenaries’ in the Black Sea port of Mariupol lay down their arms and surrender in exchange for allowing tens of thousands of residents trapped in the severely besieged city to flee peacefully.
Those who put down their arms and raised white flags, according to Mizintsev, would be allowed to exit through ‘humanitarian corridors.’ After that, civilians would be evacuated. Ukraine had till 5 a.m. to answer.
However, Mariupol quickly rejected the requests, with Pyotr Andryushenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, claiming that Russian pledges of amnesty could not be believed and that the city’s defenders were willing to fight to the death.
Residents of areas under Russian control are being transferred to ‘filtration camps,’ said to Mariupol city council spokesman Pavlo Kyrylenko, who added that Moscow’s forces are ‘checking their phones and seizing their Ukrainian passports.’
If genuine, the expulsion allegations are “disturbing” and “unconscionable,” according to US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who added that Washington had not corroborated them.
‘Forcing individuals from Ukraine to enter Russia is abhorrent; it’s unconscionable,’ Thomas-Greenfield remarked. It’s something we need to establish, but I wouldn’t rule out the Russians carrying out such a heinous act.
‘That would be another escalation, but given how bad Russian pressure on Mariupol has been, it’s not out of the question.’
The ‘abduction and expulsion’ of Ukrainians from the besieged city of Mariupol, which has been compared to Nazi Germany, has been condemned by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
Truss called the reports “appalling” and promised that Putin will be “held to account” for his abuse of people during the war.
Since March 5, 2,973 individuals have been evacuated from Mariupol, according to Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, including 541 in the last 24 hours.
Following Russia’s amnesty offer in Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk urged Russia to “stop wasting time on eight pages of letters.” Instead of using people as negotiating pawns, she believes Moscow should establish humanitarian corridors for them to exit the city.
‘There can be no mention of any surrender, laying down of arms,’ Vereshchuk told Ukrainian news source Ukrainska Pravda. This has already been communicated to the Russian side.’ All those who remain after Moscow’s surrender deadline has passed would face a “humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Mizintsev.