A Ukrainian MP has told the BBC that authorities in the besieged south-eastern city of Mariupol believe they have just three days of food supplies left available to them before hunger starts to set in.
Dmytro Gurin, whose parents live in Mariupol, said the mayor’s office had told him that the streets of the port city are lined with bodies and that authorities have been forced to dig a “mass grave for 33 people because the cemeteries are inaccessible because of shelling”.
“Now we have the situation where civilians and peaceful cities are carpet bombed,” Gurin said. “My parents live in the eastern district of Mariupol, there isn’t any military infrastructure in this area and never were”.
Gurin called on Western nations to recognise that “World War Three is already started”, and urged the US to allow Poland to equip the Ukrainian Air Force with old MiG-29 fighter jets.
“The only question of when to join these forces is how many Ukrainians die and how many Ukrainians will die in a week,” he argued.
“Great Britain remembers making this choice 80 years ago and we think its an important choice, not only for us, but for you and for your future”.