We have been speaking to Sergey Orlov, deputy mayor or #Mariupol, since the invasion of #Ukraine. For weeks, he couldn't reach his own family. Tonight, he told us that his father died while being forcibly repatriated to Russia.
Today Russia prevented the 100 people evacuated from the #Avostal plant from reaching Ukrainian-held territory. On @newshour Orlov tells us 30% of the city is still trapped: "130,000 citizens that are still in Mariupol, all of them are hostages."
And he says Russian forces "continue deportation of our citizens. In our estimation, about 40,000 citizens are deported to Russia. And it is genocide, it's absolute genocide... Russia wants to continue this deportation just to kill Ukraine as a nation."
And yet, Orlov maintains his -- and his country's-- resilience. "We're absolutely sure that we will return, we will return our Ukrainian Mariupol. Of course, it's totally destroyed. But we will rebuild it."
On @newshour tonight, with @v_solohub
On @newshour tonight, with @v_solohub
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