Shocking images of Ukrainians burying their dead in mass graves have surfaced via international media outlets reporting from Mariupol.

The Ukrainian authorities estimate that the number of dead civilians in the besieged port city exceeds 1,200.

According to a report in the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, morgue workers place the bodies in bags and throw them in mass graves on the outskirts of Mariupol.

Wearing protective masks and gloves, they take the shovels and dig holes 25 meters long.

The morgue workers bury the dead in one of the oldest cemeteries in the besieged port city and make the sign of the cross before throwing the corpses wrapped in either carpets or bags.

This morning Mariupol was bombed again. The city council of Mariupol on its channel in Telegram states: “Again a bad morning in Mariupol. Air raid again on a peaceful city. Today at 8:00 in the area of ​​Buduvelnikov Avenue, 110 Russian occupying forces bombed residents. According to the first information, one person was killed”.

Some 400,000 people are being “held hostage” in besieged Mariupol by Russian forces blocking humanitarian aid and evacuation, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said yesterday.

Describing the conditions under which citizens are trying to evacuate safely while the Russians are pounding the Ukrainian city, the Ukrainian minister stressed that “apocalyptic” scenes are unfolding in the port of Mariupol.

Yesterday, efforts to move about 400,000 residents of the besieged city to safety by bus through a “humanitarian corridor” were unsuccessful as, according to the Ukrainian government, Russian forces did not stop the bombing.

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in this strategic city of Ukraine, with the civilian population eagerly waiting to be safely removed from its long-suffering country.