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Zelensky: ‘Tens of thousands’ killed in Mariupol as Russian military masses in the east

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says “tens of thousands” of people have been killed in the besieged city of Mariupol where fighting is intense and civilians remain trapped.

Mr Zelensky said the port city in the south-east had been “destroyed” as he addressed the South Korean parliament via video and asked for military support.

He did not specify what he sought, but said South Korea had many weapons that could help save the lives of ordinary Ukrainians and prevent Russia attacking other nations.

“Mariupol has been destroyed, there are tens of thousands of dead, but even despite this, the Russians are not stopping their offensive,” Mr Zelensky said in the video address to South Korean MPs.

“Ukraine needs various military technologies from aeroplanes to tanks,” he said through an interpreter. “South Korea can help us.”

Volodymyr Zelensky says Mariupol has been ‘destroyed’. Photo: AAP

Russian forces are pushing to establish control over Mariupol, the linchpin between Russian-held areas to the west and east.

Later, Mariupol’s mayor told The Associated Press more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could surpass 20,000, with corpses “carpeted through the streets.”

Mayor Vadym Boychenko also said Russian forces brought mobile cremation equipment to dispose of the bodies. He also accused Russian forces of refusing to allow in humanitarian convoys.

Mr Boychenko said Russian forces had taken many bodies to a huge shopping centre where there were storage facilities and refrigerators.

“Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned,” he said.

About 120,000 civilians remain in dire need of food, water, warmth and communications, the mayor said.

Members of the Donetsk People’s Republic people’s militia in Mariupol. Photo: AAP

Meanwhile Ukraine has denied unverified reports posted to a mysterious Facebook page that claimed the defence of Mariupol was in its last hours as Ukraine troops ran out of ammunition and supplies.

The post written in Russian was on a Facebook page purporting to be Ukrainian soldiers, but Mariupol’s deputy mayor denied the claims and told the BBC “the battle continues”.

Reuters has confirmed widespread destruction in Mariupol but could not verify the accuracy of the leaders’ estimates of those killed in the city.

Mr Zelensky has warned that tens of thousands of Russian troops are now massing for a new offensive in eastern Ukraine.

In a late-night video address, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to fight.

“Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state. They may use even more missiles against us, even more air bombs,” he said.

“But we are preparing for their actions. We will answer.”

Britain’s defence ministry said Russian shelling continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

But Ukrainian forces had beaten back several assaults and destroyed Russian tanks, vehicles and artillery equipment, it said in its regular intelligence bulletin.

Powerful explosions rocked cities in the south and east and air raid sirens blared out across Ukraine early on Monday.

‘Tough’ talk with Putin

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer says he urged Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine and raised the issue of “serious war crimes” committed by the Russian military.

Mr Nehammer was the first European leader to meet Putin in Moscow since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine February 24.

In a statement released after the meeting, the Austrian chancellor said his primary message to Mr Putin in the “very direct, open and tough” talks was that “this war needs to end, because in war both sides can only lose.”

Mr Nehammer told Mr Putin all those responsible for war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha and elsewhere would be “held to account.”

He also stressed the need to open humanitarian corridors so that civilians trapped in cities under attack can access basic supplies like food and water, according to his statement.

The Austrian leader called the Moscow trip to Moscow his “duty” to exhaust every possibility for ending the violence in Ukraine, coming just two days after travelling to Kyiv for talks Mr Zelensky.

Karl Nehammer discusses his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Photo: AAP

European Union-member Austria supported the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country is militarily neutral and is not a member of NATO.

But Mr Nehammer and other Austrian officials have been keen to stress that military neutrality does not mean moral neutrality.

“We are militarily neutral, but have a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” Mr Nehammer wrote on Twitter Sunday when announcing his trip to Moscow. “It must stop!”

Mr Nehammer said he told Mr Putin the EU was “as united as it’s ever been” on the issue of sanctions, and that these will remain in place — and may even be strengthened — as long as Ukrainians continue to die.

-with AAP

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