Torture, deportation and death: The stories bearing witness to the horrors of Mariupol | ITV News

In Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, no battle has been as destructive as the siege of Mariupol.

The southern port city has become a symbol of the horrors of Russia’s aggression, with at least 20,000 civilians believed to have died there as of April 14, a number that is expected to have risen significantly.

What began as a city of more than 400,000 has been hollowed out since the invasion began on February 24, when Russian forces launched their assault, obliterating its infrastructure and leaving its residents without water, food, heating, electricity, or ways to communicate to the outside world.

After the last international journalists were forced to flee Mariupol, and with patchy communications limited to those trapped in the Azovstal Steelworks, information about the true scale of the terrors unleashed in the city has been slow to emerge.

ITV News has spoken to three people about their experiences of trying to leave Mariupol: those who were tortured, those whose loved ones were killed, and those deported to Russia itself.

They represent the Mariupol diaspora - those who have spread out far and wide into different countries as the shock waves of the siege continue to reverberate.

• Subscribe to ITV News on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2lOHmNj

• Get breaking news and more stories at http://www.itv.com/news



Follow ITV News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itvnews/

Follow ITV News on Twitter: https://twitter.com/itvnews

Follow ITV News on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itvnews/

Ukraine Russia Mariupol Putin