‘Pure genocide’: civilian targets in Mariupol ‘annihilated’ by Russian attacks

Speaking via a blurry video connection, the deputy mayor of Mariupol painted a grim picture of life and death on Wednesday inside his besieged city.

Russian forces surrounded Mariupol a week ago. They have been shelling it "continuously" ever since, Sergiy Orlov said, in a call with the Guardian and other foreign media.

"They have used aviation, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, grads and other types of weapons we don't even know about. This isn't simply treacherous. It's a war crime and pure genocide," he said.

He added: "Vladimir Putin means to capture Mariupol whatever the human cost."

By way of evidence, Orlov reeled off a list of civilian targets he said had so far been "annihilated". They included numerous residential houses, Mariupol's 600-bed maternity hospital No 9, the main administration service building, and the city's giant Avostal metallurgical factory - once the workplace for 11,000 people.

He said 1,170 people had been killed. On Wednesday, municipal workers buried 47 victims in a mass grave.

"We couldn't identify all of them," Orlov said. The message from Moscow was chillingly clear, he suggested: "Putin intends to destroy Ukraine so he can have Ukraine without Ukrainians."