The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to intensify as the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv is being hit by heavy shelling and all major Ukrainian cities are either encircled or captured by the Russian military.
In justs three weeks of fighting, some estimates indicate that the death toll on both sides may be as high as 10,000-12,000 people. Both Russia and Ukraine have been accused of human rights violations and war crimes from indiscriminate shelling to torturing prisoners of war.
Yesterday, a shocking story broke that Russia was shelling a hospital filled with patients in the embattled east ukrainian city of Mauripol. Ukrainian government officials claim that Russians are using the 500 people inside the hospital as human shields.
Both Ukraine and Russia have made attempts to evacuate Mauripol’s 446,000 residents, though only about 20,000 have been evacuated as of yesterday.
The Daily Mail Reports–
“Vladimir Putin’s troops have seized a hospital in Mariupol and are holding 500 Ukrainians hostage, using them as human shields as attacks on the southern city continue.
Russian forces rounded up 400 people from houses neighbouring the seaport’s hospital number two, along with 100 doctors and patients who were already inside, and are refusing to let them leave, according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
The terror came against a backdrop of frantic evacuation elsewhere in Mariupol, with around 20,000 fleeing the besieged city along a humanitarian corridor – supposedly safe passages which allow civilians to leave Ukraine.
But while families rushed to escape in their droves, there were desperate scenes in Mariupol’s hospitals, which continue to be under attack from Putin’s forces.
In the city’s hospital number three, a heartbreaking picture showed tiny premature children who had been left without parents.
And in hospital number two, also known as the intensive care hospital, Russian troops are using those inside as human shields, Kyryklenko said, adding: ‘It’s impossible to leave the hospital, they are shooting hard.’
