Patients and staff at a hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol have been taken hostage by Russians, according to local officials.
Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said around 400 people were being held against their will in the intensive care hospital in the southern port city.
Reports suggest that people were moved into the hospital from neighbouring houses and anyone who tries to escape is being shot at.
In a statement posted on his official Telegram channel, Kyrylenko said one of the hospital employees managed to pass on information about what was happening.
He quoted them as saying: ‘It is impossible to get out of the hospital. They shoot hard, we sit in the basement. Cars have not been able to drive to the hospital for two days.
‘High-rise buildings around us are burning … the Russians have rushed 400 people from neighboring buildings to our hospital. We can’t leave.’
Mr Kyrylenko said the hospital was all but destroyed on Sunday by Russian shelling, but staff continued to treat patients in the basement.
‘The floor slabs fell in the main building from the bombing, but hospital staff and patients continued to be in the basement adapted for the circumstances – to work and be treated,’ he wrote in an impassioned statement.
‘The destruction was not enough for Russian villains – now they made people hostages.’
He referred to the hostage taking as a war crime and called on humanitarian organisations to help.
‘I appeal to international human rights organizations to respond to these vicious violations of the norms and customs of war, to these blatant crimes against humanity.’
The Media Initiative for Human Rights in Ukraine also said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that residents of the city contacted its hotline to report the occupation of Russian troops at the Mariupol Regional Intensive Care Hospital.
The organisation claimed Russian forces are firing at the windows of the hospital in an effort to trigger a response from Ukrainian soldiers.
Mariupol’s deputy mayor Sergei Orlov also confirmed that around 400 people have been captured inside the hospital.
He accused Russian forces are ‘destroying the city’.
‘There are a lot of fights on our streets, and the situation yesterday was terrible,’ he told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga.
‘They’re destroying the city. For example, yesterday, we counted 22 aircraft which were bombing our city, and at least 100 bombs they used to bomb our city. The damage is awful.’
The hospital occupation comes after Russia bombed a maternity unit in the strategic port city, killing a pregnant woman and her baby and a six-year-old girl.
On Saturday Moscow also shelled a Mosque in Mariupol with 80 children sheltering inside.
The city has been one of the worst hit by the Russian invasion, with repeated attempts to evacuate citizens thwarted by continued shelling attacks.
Yesterday, a convoy of 160 cars managed to leave along a humanitarian corridor, the first substantial contingent to leave after two weeks of bombardment.
Another 2,000 people were evacuated today, but aid has not yet reached the city.
Mr Orlov said Mariupol is running out of food, water, medicine, insulin and baby food, with many residents trying to survive in underground shelters.
He claimed cars with supplies have been waiting for four days but the Russians have not let it in.
Mr Orlov said: ‘We get a lot of calls. For example, a mother who says “I have a child in my hands [who] is dying from hunger.” Or we get a call ‘”Here’s our address. We’re blocked in the basement. What should we do?”‘.
‘Unfortunately we can’t do anything’.
It comes as the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are scheduled to meet with Ukraine’s president Vlodomyr Zelensky for a show of unity in Kyiv.
The three leaders reportedly crossed the border into Ukraine this morning before travelling to the capital overland by train – despite it coming under attack from Russia.
President Joe Biden will also travel to Brussels next week for a meeting with Nato leaders to show US support for Ukraine and discuss the international communities next steps.
The west is continuing to ramp up sanctions against Putin, with the UK announcing an asset freeze on a further 350 Russian targets today.
The government also announced a ban on the export of luxury goods to Russia and a new 35% tariff on £900 million worth of Russian imports, including vodka, metals, fertilisers and other commodities.
Russia-Ukraine war: Everything you need to know
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the country has suffered widespread damages and loss of life amid a major bombing campaign.
Over 3 million people have fled, as Ukrainian cities face shortages of food, water, heat, and medicine - with thousands of British people opening up their homes to Ukrainian refugees.
Countries have retaliated by imposing sanctions on Russia and oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich, while large companies like Disney, Starbucks, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola have suspended business in the country.
However, despite these economic blows, Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't shown any signs of calling off the attack anytime soon.
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