More than 160,000 Mariupol residents remain without water, heat, medicine - British Defense Ministry

The British Defense Ministry wrote this in its latest defense intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

It is noted that heavy fighting and Russian airstrikes have continued in the encircled city of Mariupol.

“The humanitarian situation in the city is worsening. Most of the 160,000 remaining residents have no light, communication, medicine, heat or water. Russian forces have prevented humanitarian access, likely to pressure defenders to surrender,” the report says.

Earlier, the British Defense Ministry stated that Mariupol city remained a key objective of the Russian invasion as it would secure a land corridor from Russia to the occupied territory of Crimea.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities, conducting massive shelling of residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

The United States, the European Union, and other countries impose sanctions on Russia as an aggressor whose international isolation is growing by the day.

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