Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes the death toll in one of the cities most targeted by Russian forces could be in the “tens of thousands.”
Zelensky, while addressing South Korean lawmakers on Monday, said Russian forces “completely destroyed” Mariupol and “burned it to ashes." Mariupol possesses strategic importance to Russia because it is situated between the Crimean peninsula, which Russia has occupied since 2014, and the breakaway Ukrainian regions in the eastern part of the country, which have pro-Russian separatist factions.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Defense Department is unable to verify Zelensky’s estimate, adding, “I don’t think anybody’s really going to know until Ukrainian authorities are able to get in and look.” The Mariupol City Council accused Russian forces of using a mobile crematorium to cover up their actions in the city after there was global condemnation for alleged war crimes in the city of Bucha, which is near Kyiv.
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