Mayor: over 10,000 people held at ‘filtration camps’ in Mariupol

Over 10,000 civilians are held at Russian “filtration camps” in Mariupol, city mayor Vadym Boychenko said during a briefing.

According to Boychenko, municipal workers and government employees are held at the “filtration camps”. They have no access to medical care.

About 2,000 men are held at one of the detention centres, which may be related to the upcoming mobilisation of troops, Boychenko suggests. “We understand what they are doing this for. They announced that they would be giving away these pieces of paper called Russian passports. This is a ticket to the frontline,” he said.

In early July, the US discovered at least 18 facilities set up by Russian forces to detain and forcibly deport Ukrainian citizens, Deputy Chief of the US Mission to the OSCE Courtney Austrian stated.

Earlier, Ukrainian citizens told BBC Russian of beatings and electric shock torture at Russian “filtration camps”. The Russian troops also took away their phones and looked at their social media pages.