The Kremlin stated on Friday that it has yet to review estimates by Human Rights Watch regarding the number of individuals killed in Mariupol, but blamed Ukrainian forces for the deaths of many civilians in the city.
According to Human Rights Watch, at least 8,000 people have lost their lives due to the fighting or war-related reasons during Russia’s months-long invasion of Mariupol, marking one of the largest battles in the nearly two-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine.
In response to the report, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused Ukrainian forces of using civilians in Mariupol as human shields and shooting them from behind, without providing any evidence to support these claims, which Kyiv has previously denied.
Ukraine has stated that Russia imposed a tight siege on the strategic coastal city of Mariupol between March and May 2022, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.
Ukraine claims that tens of thousands were killed in Mariupol, but it cannot specify an exact number as it cannot access the city, now under Russian control.
Russia has pledged to counter the perceived threats to its national security posed by the increasing military presence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) near its borders.
Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, emphasized during a press conference that Russia would not leave NATO’s military enhancements near its borders unaddressed and would take necessary defensive measures to mitigate threats to its national security, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
