(Reuters) – A city council in Ukraine’s Mariupol has announced that Russian forces deported thousands of people last week from the city under siege. This was after Russia spoke of “refugitories” who had arrived from this strategic port.

The council stated that “over the last week, many thousand Mariupol residents have been deported onto Russian territory,” in a statement posted on Telegram late Saturday.

The occupiers unlawfully took the people of the Livoberezhniy District and the shelter at the Sports Club Building, where over a thousand people (mostly children and women) were hiding from constant bombing.

Reuters couldn’t independently verify these claims.

Russia’s Defence Ministry reported that buses transporting people from Mariupol started arriving in Russia on Tuesday. This was according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti. It was not possible to immediately comment on claims made by the Mariupol City Council.

Local authorities estimate that around 400 000 people remain trapped at Mariupol (on the Sea of Azov) for two weeks. The shelter is from bombardment, which has disrupted power, heating, water supplies.

According to Russian TASS, 13 buses were reported to have been moving towards Russia. They carried more than 350 passengers. 50 were going to travel by train to Yaroslavl, while the remainder would be transported to Taganrog (a port in Russia’s Rostov Region).

Russia’s Defence Ministry stated this month that 200 buses had been prepared by Russia to evacuate Mariupol residents.

According to RIA Novosti, nearly 300,000. including 60,000 children arrived in Russia in the Luhansk, Donbas, and Mariupol regions in recent weeks.

According to Russia’s Defence Ministry, more than 2.65 million Ukrainians have requested evacuation.

These reports could not be verified immediately by Reuters.

Mariupol is a crucial link to the Black Sea and has been targeted since February 24, 2018, when Russian President Vladimir Putin began a special military operation to “denazify” Ukraine. Both the West and Ukraine say Putin has launched an unprovoked aggression war.

Russia’s attempt to take control of most of Ukraine’s south coast has seen Mariupol assume great significance. It lies between the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula to the west, and the Donetsk area to the east. This region is partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists.