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An estimated 150,000 people remain trapped inside the besieged and largely destroyed southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. After a recent call between Presidents Macron and Putin, France said conditions have not been met for a planned humanitarian operation to evacuate civilians. There have been reports of evacuees from Mariupol being taken to Russia against their will. A woman who decided to leave the city says she was directed to an evacuation bus, with the understanding she would be taken elsewhere in Ukraine. However, she was driven east to the self-declared and Russian-controlled Donetsk People's Republic. She said during the journey, the passengers were not told about where they were going and were then taken to a holding camp across the Russian border in Taganrog. They were then told they would be taken to areas in Russia where workers were needed, and were transported north to the Russian city of Tula - about two hundred kilometres from Moscow. Eventually, the woman and others refused to go on with their journey and bought train tickets to St Peterburg and travelled on to Estonia by bus. Photo: A boy from Mariupol in a temporary accommodation centre for refugees in Taganrog, Rostov region, Russia, 21 March 2022 Credit: EPA
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