'It is Russia against humanity': Crisis grows in besieged Ukrainian city
People with loved ones trapped inside the besieged city of Mariupol were trying desperately on Thursday to connect to phones inside the city, which has been virtually cut off from the outside world by an escalating and indiscriminate bombing campaign by Russian forces.
Dmytro Gurin, a Ukrainian MP who grew up in Mariupol and whose parents are trapped there, said he last managed to connect to their neighbours four days ago.
"We spoke for 30 seconds after they went to a spot with signal - there are a couple of these spots people know about," Mr Gurin said.
"They said my parents were alive, living in the basement under their apartment building.
"Please understand me that this is not a shelter with light, water and a toilet, it is a basement with nothing."
Mr Gurin said his parents were using snow to drink water and trying to cook food on an open fire outside.
"Can you try to imagine this? Your parents, 67 and 69, are drinking snow and trying to cook on a fire outside in winter and there is continuous shelling," he said.
"This is not war any more. This is not army against army. It is carpet bombing. It is Russia against humanity."
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Municipal authorities have finally been able to begin collecting and burying bodies which had been in the streets, the deputy mayor Serhiy Orlov told the BBC on Thursday. City officials estimated 1,300 civilians had been killed so far, Mr Orlov said.
"There is no possibility of private graves, because of the high numbers and because of the continuous shelling. They are being put into mass graves," he said.
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