“Due to the situation in Mariupol, it is difficult to comment on the numbers of victims, the city is besieged and under blockade,” the regional governor warned.
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According to him, the authorities are currently working with information that speaks of 20 to 22 thousand deaths. Independent estimates of the victims of Russia’s relentless bombing are not available, CNN said. Russian bombs hit hospitals and the theater.
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The strategically located port of Mariupol on the shores of the Sea of Azov has been under siege by the Russian army for 40 days. The AFP agency said that Russian troops on Tuesday intensified their efforts to conquer the port city, which used to live up to 400,000 inhabitants.
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The city is devastated by its shelling, and according to AFP, it has about 160,000 people cut off from the world and suffering from a shortage of water, food, electricity and heat.
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The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is also examining information on the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol. The Ukrainian Azov Regiment, which is defending the besieged city, said that the Russian army used an unspecified “toxic substance” on Monday night in Mariupol, which it dropped on the city’s defenders from a drone. The victims had difficulty breathing and movement.
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In a statement on the Telegram channel, the regiment wrote: “The Russian occupying forces used a poisonous substance of unknown origin on Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in Mariupol, which was dropped from an enemy drone.”
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Azov co-founder and politician Andriy Bileckyj told the Kyiv Independent that three people had symptoms of poisoning, but that it did not seem to have serious consequences for their health in the end.
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Eduard Basurin, a representative of the pro-Russian separatists involved in the siege of Mariupol, denied the use of chemical weapons.
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