Ukrainian cities being ‘wiped off the face of the Earth’

Russia is committing a “real act of genocide” against the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine’s defence minister said today during an extraordinary visit to London.

In a statement at the Ministry of Defence, Oleksii Reznikov said that several small cities in Ukraine had been “wiped off the face of the Earth”. In Mariupol “for three weeks, 400,000 citizens have been surrounded, without food, water, light, air”, he said.

The city was shelled by a Russian warship yesterday and troops had deliberately dropped bombs on a hospital with a maternity ward and a drama theatre where women and children were sheltering, Reznikov added.

Today’s key developments:

• Russian troops shot peaceful protesters in occupied Kherson.
• Russian troops need another week to take Mariupol, the Donetsk separatist leader has said.
• Eyewitness accounts have told of chaos and deprivation in the besieged city
• Chernobyl radiation monitors have gone offline.
• President Zelensky has called on Europe to cut all trade ties with Russia saying: “No euros for the occupiers”.

Reznikov, who met Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said: “Several small cities in Ukraine have simply been wiped off the face of the Earth. The last time such destruction was in Europe was during World War II. Moscow is afraid of our army so they are fighting civilians. This is state terrorism.”