On Monday, April 18, the mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city Mariupol announced that about 40,000 civilians had been forcibly moved to Russia or Russia-controlled areas in Ukraine. The siege of Mariupol has been going on since the beginning of the Russian Invasion on 24 February. The city is located in the Donetsk Oblast and under the control of the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, who completely blockaded Mariupol on March 2, after which they gradually gained control. City officials have reported that about 21,000 civilians have been killed and that at least 95% of the city has been destroyed mainly by Russian bombardments. These tragic statistics continue to increase as the invasion rages on. 

In addition to the deaths and destruction, citizens of Mariupol are being forced to leave for either Russia or Russia-controlled areas in Ukraine. Vadym Boichenko, the mayor of Mariupol, stated on Ukrainian television: “Unfortunately, I have to declare that as of today, they are forcibly deporting residents. We have verified through the municipal register that they have already deported over 40,000 people.” According to PBS, he also described what is happening to the civilians: “Mariupol residents have been taken to “filtration camps” in the separatist-controlled east before being forcibly sent to distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.”

Although things look dire for the city, the people have continued to fight for months, showing promise for a Russian defeat. An independent military expert, Oleh Zhdanov, said that “The Ukrainian Troops in Mariupol are still fulfilling their main task by diverting the Russian forces from other areas. Mariupol remains a major symbol of the Ukrainian Resistance.” 

Russia’s actions have been increasingly harsh; in addition to killing countless innocent Ukrainians, their forced deporting of the people of Mariupol is unfair and violates several humanitarian principles. In addition, on April 1, the UN attempted a rescue effort using fifty buses to transport hundreds of civilian survivors out of Mariupol, but this plan was blocked by Russian troops, who refused them safe passage into the city. Such actions need to be met with harsher repercussions, especially as the UN is a humanitarian, peacekeeping organization rising above state lines and, therefore, should be able to exercise greater authority than Russia.

The siege of Mariupol has been compared to the siege of Leningrad by Ukrainian and US officials, and such a characterization shows just how devastating it has been. Actions taken by Russia in this region have been described as war crimes; for example, in early March, Russian forces bombed agreed-on evacuation corridors as civilians tried to use them. According to CNN, an official in Mariupol reported that people are afraid to leave the underground shelters for food and water due to the constant bombing, and one month ago, President Zelenskyy announced that “100,000 civilians were trapped in inhumane conditions without food, running water, or medicine.” In addition, Russia recently bombed the Mariupol Children and Maternity Hospital as well as the city theatre, where thousands of civilians were sheltering. 

Such utter disregard for the loss of civilian lives shown by Russia is horrifying and amounts to war crimes. The international community must continue to blast the Kremlin with sanctions and hold all those responsible for the attacks accountable. This involves taking cases to the International Criminal Court and trying Putin and his generals for committing war crimes and even genocide. In addition, the world must demand that UN humanitarian aid be allowed to enter the city of Mariupol. There is a point in which war goes beyond being a simple struggle for a prize and turns towards having irreversible consequences such as the loss of democracy and human rights. The war in Russia-Ukraine is approaching that line if it has not already crossed it, and the international community must keep showing support to Ukraine while strongly denouncing the actions of Russia.