“The President believes that the occupation authorities are erecting new buildings in Mariupol not only for the purpose of propaganda, but also to hide the deaths of civilians”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
This is how he answered a question about the number of deaths in the city at the beginning of a full-scale invasion.
“I think that it is really impossible to understand without the relevant works just on the spot. We had information that the Russians killed about 20,000. But I can’t say specifically. The people there were different. There were thousands of people in captivity, and most of them from this direction. We returned 4,000 prisoners, and there are thousands more,” Zelenskyy said.
He reminded that most of the 19,500 children, whose deportation to Russia is known to the Ukrainian authorities, were taken from the occupied southern regions of Ukraine, including Mariupol.
Read also: “They are sure that they will stay there.” Is Russia restoring the occupied cities and seized enterprises of Donbas?
Zelensky also added that Russian troops killed or abducted civilians who protested against the occupation: “these are hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands.”
“In addition to the fact that hostilities were taking place there and many people were injured or died under the rubble. A large number of buildings were simply demolished there,” he said.
The President expressed his belief that the occupying power is erecting new buildings on the site of destroyed ones not only for the purpose of propaganda, but also to hide the deaths of civilians. In his opinion, Moscow has already used this practice:
“You know that Grozny is completely built (again – ed.)built city. When there was a war in Chechnya, when they were fighting for their independence, there was no Grozny, not a single building. They completely destroyed the entire city and then built a new one. It’s not to show ‘here look’, it’s not just marketing. This is primarily to hide all the people they killed. These are scary people. Therefore, no one knows the real number.”
In his social networks, Zelensky previously announced a conversation with Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, noting that this is her first interview after being released from prison in Iran.
Mariupol was surrounded by Russian troops in the first few days of the large-scale Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022. The fighting for the city continued until the last Ukrainian troops left the Azovstal plant in May.
During this time, a significant part of the buildings and other objects in the city were destroyed. The exact number of dead is unknown – estimates vary from several thousand to several tens of thousands.
Ukraine and international human rights organizations accuse Russia of numerous war crimes committed in Mariupol. Among them was the shelling of the maternity hospital and the attack on the Drama Theater, where people were hiding. The Ministry of Defense of Russia calls these accusations “fakes”.