Mariupol mayor says siege has killed more than 10,000 civilians

The UN children’s agency said that nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have fled their homes in the six weeks since Russia’s invasion began

A woman pulls her bags past houses damaged during a fighting in Mariupol (Alexei Alexandrov/AP)

The mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol said that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city, and that the death toll could surpass 20,000.

Speaking by phone to The Associated Press, Mayor Vadym Boychenko also said Russian forces brought mobile cremation equipment to the city to dispose of the bodies, and he accused Russian forces of refusing to allow humanitarian convoys into the city in an attempt to conceal the carnage.