Russia’s siege of Mariupol would be remembered for “centuries to come” for the violence inflicted on civilians, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president addressed the nation in a video, while Mariupol city’s council several thousand residents were forcefully deported from the city into Russian territory over the last week.
The council said: “The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing.”
Also, the G12 art school where 400 people were sheltering was bombed on Saturday – the council said.
No mention of casualties was made in the aftermath of the attack, but the building was destroyed and there were victims under the rubble, it added.
Mariupol, a Black Sea port city, has seen some of the worst attacks during the invasion launched by Vladimir Putin on 24 February.
Mr Zelensky said: “To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.”
-Independent