The Mariupol City Council says that over 10,000 of the city’s residents are being held prisoner by the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic.

The Russo-Ukrainian War is an ongoing war between Russia (together with pro-Russian separatist forces) and Ukraine. It began in February 2014 following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, and initially focused on the status of Crimea and the Donbas, internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Mariupol is a city on the north coast of the Sea of Azov at the mouth of the Kalmius river, in the Pryazovia region. While internationally recognized as in Ukraine, the city is under the de facto administration of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Over 10,000 civilians have been killed in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Residents were detained by the Russian force and sent to places of deprivation of liberty. It is known about four such prisons: two in Olenivka, Donetsk pretrial detention facility and one in Makiyivka. People are in terrible and inhuman conditions, like in a concentration camp. They are closed in cramped cells 2 by 3 meters for 10 people. Mariupol residents are not getting water and food. They have no access to normal medical care and are subjected to various forms of torture, from psychological to physical. The occupiers have created real concentration camp conditions in which peaceful Mariupol residents are forced to survive.

Mayor Vadym Boichenko of Mariupol city told :

I call on the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN to pay attention to the illegal detention of city civilians. Use all possible tools to obtain lists of prisoners. Ensure that they receive decent living conditions. And work together on the release of every Mariupol resident.