Invaders have forcibly taken about 150 children out of Mariupol – human rights activists

"Russian military has forcibly taken about 150 children out of Mariupol [and transferred them] in the direction of occupied Donetsk and Russian Taganrog," said Olha Skrypnyk, Head of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Ukrinform reports.

According to Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to Mariupol mayor, most of the children were taken out of hospitals without parents. In addition, the occupiers took 16 children out of a health resort in Mariupol.

According to Andriushchenko, the abducted children are not orphans.

"Orphans together with orphanage staff were evacuated from Mariupol on February 24-25," the Crimean Human Rights Group quotes the official as saying.

As the adviser to Mariupol mayor noted, some of the "abducted children lost their parents due to Russia's war crimes" but they "either have guardians in the non-occupied territories or are under state protection."

As of now, the Russian invaders have forcibly taken from 130 to 150 children out of Mariupol, he added. The vast majority of these children, about a hundred wounded and sick children, were forcibly taken out of hospitals. They could have been transferred to the city of Donetsk.

As reported, the Russian invaders stated that they would totally close the entrance to and departure from Mariupol on April 18 and ban the movement to filter 100% of the men who remain in the city.

As reported, Mariupol experiences one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes due to Russia's aggression. The invaders bomb unarmed residents and block the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Mariupol Mayor earlier stated that up to 20,000 civilians had died in the city since the Russian invasion.

The invaders deprive Mariupol residents of Ukrainian passports and forcibly transfer them to Russia and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

About 120,000 civilians stay now in besieged Mariupol.

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