Mariupol residents forcibly taken to Russia

City officials in embattled Mariupol on Saturday accused Russia of taking thousands of locals across the border against their will over the past week, the BBC reports.

The BBC is yet to verify these claims – but more testimonies are emerging of such events

One official, Pyotr Andryuschenko, told the New York Times between 4,000 and 4,500 residents had been moved to Tangarog, a city in the Rostov region which borders Ukraine’s south-east corner. He added that they had been taken without their passports.

One Ukrainian man also told the newspaper he had been in contact with three families who had been forcibly relocated.

“Now the Russians are walking through the basements, and if there are people left there, they forcibly take them to Taganrog,” said Eduard Zarubin, a doctor who left the city earlier this week.

Russia has not directly addressed the claim, but its defence ministry on Friday claimed thousands of Ukrainians wished to "escape to Russia" and its government was helping them.