Fears are growing for hundreds of civilians holed up in the steel factory on Mariupol’s left bank, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters.

Read here The Ministry of Defense calls to join the flash mob in support of Ukraine #ArmUkraineNow

According to local officials, between 300 and 1,000 people, including women and children, could still be trapped in the steelworks.

On Thursday, Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, accused Russia of hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave in the nearby village of Manhush.