Report: Russians have taken 400 patients and staff hostage at Mariupol hospital

[BeyondGeography]

Link to tweet

Russian soldiers have taken hundreds of civilians hostage at a hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol, the regional governor has reported.

“Russian occupiers have taken doctors and patients hostage,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk Oblast, wrote on his Telegram channel. He said one of the hostages told local officials that the Russians had herded about 400 civilians into the hospital and were preventing anyone from leaving.

“We can’t get out of the hospital,” the unnamed hostage was reported to have said. “They’re shooting a lot. We’re sitting in the cellar.”

…One report indicated that Russian soldiers were using windows as sniper positions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), whose workers have been in Mariupol throughout the siege, said conditions in the city were “dire”.

…“What’s happening in Mariupol is very much in character with the way the Russian military dealt with Aleppo and Grozny,” Mark Galeotti, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said. “This is how you do urban warfare on the cheap, if you aren’t confident in the training or morale of your soldiers. And the last few weeks have shown the Russian army isn’t exactly thriving in Ukraine.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/076b15d6-a4a0-11ec-b05a-8d7b276f1397?shareToken=995222ae664a163d5d83d743e1a21fcd

[keithbvadu2]

1. Genius strategy acc to Trump.

[lindysalsagal]

2. This should never be forgiven or excused by the world.

And some day regular Russians will know.

[70sEraVet]

3. My guess is there's a lot of looting of drugs going on.

[roamer65]

4. Hopefully it happens to a Russian embassy somewhere.

I’d like to see them have to deal with a hostage crisis like we did in 1979-1981.