Mariupol’s dead put at 5,000 including 210 children as Ukraine braces in the east 

Russia completed the pullout of all of its estimated 24,000 or more troops from the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas in the north, sending them into Belarus or Russia to resupply and reorganise

A view of the Mariupol theatre damaged during fighting in the city. Picture: AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov

The mayor of the besieged port city of Mariupol put the number of civilians killed there at more than 5,000 Wednesday, as Ukraine collected evidence of Russian atrocities on the outskirts of Kyiv and braced for what could become a climactic battle for control of the country’s industrial east.

Ukrainian authorities continued gathering up the dead in ruined towns outside the capital amid telltale signs Moscow’s troops killed civilians indiscriminately before retreating over the past several days.