Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says thousands of children have been kidnapped from the city of Mariupol by Russian forces.
“According to our information, more than two thousand children were taken out, that means stolen,” said Zelensky, according to CNN. “Their exact location is unknown. They can be there with or without parents. All in all, it’s a disaster. I can’t tell you what that looks like at all. It’s scary. They hold them like souls for an exchange fund.”
The comments by the President were not confirmed and further details were not provided. Pro-Russian forces have said over the weekend they were ‘evacuating’ residents from targeted cities to Russia amid the invasion.
“The reality is this: The city is blocked by the Russian military,” Zelensky continued. “All entrances and exits from the city of Mariupol are blocked. The port is mined. A humanitarian catastrophe inside the city is unequivocal, because it is impossible to go there with food, medicine and water. The Russian military is shelling humanitarian convoys. Drivers are being killed.”
“To make you understand in the city there are corpses lying on the roads, on the sidewalks,” said Zelensky. “Corpses are just lying around, no one cleans them, of Russian soldiers and citizens of Ukraine.”
