Kyiv eventually accused Moscow of forcibly deporting hundreds of thousands of civilians from destroyed Ukrainian cities to force Kyiv to surrender, according to the Associated Press.
According to Ukrainian Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova, 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, have been taken against their will to Russia, where some of them are in danger of being used as “hostages” to pressure the Kiev authorities to surrender.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry says 6,000 of those forcibly transported to Russia came from the destroyed port city of Mariupol, while another 15,000 people from the Russian-controlled part of the city had their identity documents confiscated.
The Kremlin gave similar figures for the number of deportees, but said the people themselves wanted to leave for Russia.
The rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine are predominantly Russian-speaking, and many people maintain close ties to Moscow.