'The ashes of a dead land': Drone footage gives a glimpse of the devastation wrought on the besieged city of Mariupol as survivors describe fleeing past piles of corpses rotting in the streets
Drone footage and satellite images have today given a glimpse at the extent of the devastation in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has now been under siege by Russian forces for almost a month as officials say it has been reduced to the 'ashes of a dead land'.
Video taken in the skies above the hard-hit district of Livoberezhnyi, to the east of the city, shows thin lines of smoke drifting through the air between blocks of destroyed apartments, shredded trees and dead grass - with barely a building left undamaged by Russian shelling.
Satellite images taken above other areas of the city show the grim picture repeating many times over in what Human Rights Watch has described as a 'hell-scape.' 'It is clear that the occupiers are not interested in the city of Mariupol,' a local official said. 'They want to raze it to the ground, to reduce it to ashes of a dead land.'
Though humanitarian convoys trying to reach the city have largely been thwarted - with President Zelensky saying on Tuesday that Russian forces had captured some aid workers heading there - a steady stream of refugees has managed to flow out, bringing their horror stories with them.
Julia Krytska, who managed to flee the city with her husband and son earlier this week, described passing piles of rotting bodies lying in the streets because there are no workers left to bury them. 
Smoke is seen rising over civilian areas of Mariupol, which has been almost totally levelled by Russian forces in an attempt to take the city - which has been without water, food or electricity for almost a month
Heavily damaged apartment buildings are seen in southern Mariupol, as a local official said the city has been reduced to 'the ashes of a dead land' by Russian bombardment
Heavily damaged buildings and apartment blocks are seen in a satellite image of Mariupol, where more than 100,000 people are still said to be stranded in conditions likened to a 'hell-scape'
Badly damaged and partially collapses apartment buildings are seen in the city of Mariupol, which has been under near-constant Russia bombardment since early March and been almost-totally destroyed
An industrial area in the centre of the city of Mariupol, which has been heavily bombed by Russian forces, is seen in this satellite image taken on Tuesday
'I want the world to know about Mariupol,' she told the Guardian while sheltering at a train station in the western city of Lviv. 'People don’t have any food there. They have nothing. What we had we shared. They are dead people in the streets everywhere. They can’t take them away because of the shelling.'
Russian forces are now thought to be fighting in the centre of the city, though are still not in control of it almost exactly a month after Vladimir Putin announced the start of what was supposed to be a days-long 'special military operation' aimed at toppling the government.
Once home to more than 400,000 people, there are now thought to be less than 100,000 left - suffering through what Zelensky last night called 'inhumane conditions' - describing 'a complete blockade, no food, no water, no medicine, under constant shelling.'
Mr Zelensky also accused Russian forces of not only blocking a humanitarian convoy trying to take desperately needed aid to Mariupol but seizing what another Ukrainian official said were 15 of the bus drivers and rescue workers on the aid mission, along with their vehicles.
The Ukrainian president said the Russians had agreed to the route ahead of time.
'We are trying to organise stable humanitarian corridors for Mariupol residents, but almost all of our attempts, unfortunately, are foiled by the Russian occupiers, by shelling or deliberate terror,' he added in a nightly video address to the nation.
Two 'super powerful bombs' hit Mariupol yesterday as officials tried to evacuate thousands of civilians from the besieged city, which has been described as a 'hell-scape riddled with dead bodies' by humanitarian workers.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said there 'will not be enough space for everyone' to leave the city on Tuesday - amid estimates that up to 300,000 people remain there - but 'we will try to carry out the evacuation until we have gotten all the inhabitants.'
As the evacuation got under way two 'super powerful bombs' struck the port city, local officials said, without saying whether they killed anyone.
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Military personnel pictured last week as civilians are being evacuated along humanitarian corridors from the besieged port city of Mariupol
Volodymyr Zelensky said some 100,000 are still in the city besieged city of Mariupol (pictured last week), trapped 'in inhumane conditions' while low on supplies and under constant attack
Members of the Italian Parliament make a standing ovation at Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (on screen), at the end of his speech to members of the Italian Parliament via video conference
Two 'super powerful bombs' hit Mariupol today as officials tried to evacuate thousands of civilians from the besieged city, which has been described as a 'hell-scape riddled with dead bodies' by humanitarian workers
Mr Zelensky also accused Russian forces of not only blocking a humanitarian convoy trying to take desperately needed aid to Mariupol but seizing what another Ukrainian official said were 15 of the bus drivers and rescue workers on the aid mission, along with their vehiclesIt came as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an end to the 'absurd war' started when Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade almost exactly a month ago, warning that the conflict is 'going nowhere fast' and that the Ukrainian people are 'enduring a living hell.'
'Continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible and militarily nonsensical,' Guterres said. 'Even if Mariupol falls, Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house.
'This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. It is time to end this absurd war,' he added.
President Zelensky said Ukraine is 'on the brink of surviving' its war as he told lawmakers in a video address yesterday that Italy must stop being 'a resort for murderers' and urged the country to ban Russian ships from its ports.
In a speech to the Italian parliament, Zelensky urged the country's MPs to freeze all assets belonging to the Russian elite and to declare a full trade embargo, starting with oil.
He said: 'You know very well who orders troops to go to war and who propagates this. Almost all of them use Italy as a place to rest. Do not be a resort for murderers.
'Freeze all their property, accounts and yachts. Freeze all the assets of those who have influence, let them use it for peace. Support sanctions against Russia, a full trade embargo, starting with oil.'
He also asked Italy to remove enemy troops from Ukraine and to help carry out the de-mining and reconstruction of the country 'after this war'.
'Together with you, together with Italy. Together with Europe. Together - in the European Union,' he added.
He also begged the country's MPs to step up sanctions on the Russian economy, saying 'more pressure' can help Ukraine withstand the Kremlin assault. 
Drone footage taken by the Azov Battalion which is helping to defend the city of Mariupol shows Russian bombardment of an industrial area, in video released on Tuesday
Smoke rises from the ruins of an industrial area somewhere in Mariupol after it was shelled by Russian forces
Men from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol lay bodies into a mass grave dug on the outskirts, as officials estimate thousands of people have been killed by Russian bombardments
A woman holds a child over her shoulder in a makeshift bomb shelter constructed in an apartment basement in Mariupol, which has been largely cut off from food, water and electricity for three weeks
Women and children shelter in the basement of an apartment building in Mariupol, southern Ukraine, which has been under near-constant Russian bombardment for three weeks
A man wounded during the Russian shelling of Mariupol lies in a temporary medical shelter as doctors operate on himMariupol has now been surrounded and under siege for more than three weeks - cut off from food, water, electricity and reinforcement, and constantly shelled in an effort to force the defenders to surrender. Multiple attempts at evacuating civilians along 'humanitarian corridors' have failed, amid claims Russia attacked them.
Several thousand have managed to make it out - many by making life-or-death breaks for the outskirts in their own vehicles - and have begun to tell of the horrors they faced inside.
Victoria, who only gave her first name, told the BBC that three infants she knows have died because they could not access drinking water, after the snow they had been melting for supplies ran out.
Others are now starving in basements that have been turned into makeshift bomb shelters but are being slowly destroyed by Russian artillery that pounds the city non-stop 'except a few hours at night', Victoria added.
Meanwhile Mykola Trofymenko, a professor and city councillor from Mariupol who has also fled last week, described how one doctor was forced to perform surgery with a kitchen knife and no anesthetic after the hospital where he was working was destroyed by artillery.
Trofymenko, who escaped with his wife and three-year-old son, said the city 'doesn't exist now because almost everything is destroyed' and that he had to train his son to run and hide from the sound of incoming bombs while he struggled to find enough food and water for him.
Speaking to BBC 5 Live in a voice trembling with emotion, Victoria said: 'My city is absolutely destroyed. Me, my family, all our friends, we don't have our homes now. All the buildings are destroyed and the shelling is continuing... It is on fire all the time, except a few hours at night.
'People stay in the basements but it doesn't save them. They're bombing so hard so they're destroying even the basements. They don't have water, we gathered snow several days ago of water.
'Three children I know... died from dehydration. It is the 21st century, and children are dying from dehydration in my city, they are starving now.
'Part of my family is still there, and families of my friends are still there. We tried to take them out of the city but the city is closed. They don't let people in so we couldn't take them out... it is impossible.'
Mr Trofymenko added: 'Mariupol was always showing to the occupiers that it is better to be in Ukraine because we are developing and we are making our lives better. We tried to build Europe in Mariupol.
Soldiers inspect a destroyed tank sitting along an evacuation route leading out of the city of Mariupol, taken on Monday
Damaged buildings and a military vehicle are seen as civilians being evacuated along humanitarian corridors from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol
Civilians are evacuated along humanitarian corridors from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, under the control of Russian troops
Civilians are seen walking through the destroyed streets of Mariupol after attacks by the Russian military
People evacuate from the destroyed city of Mariupol which has been under siege by Russian forces for almost a month'The city, it doesn't exist now because almost everything is destroyed, but previously, before February 24 [when Russia invaded] it was beautiful.'
Describing how he fled the city, he spoke of witnessing cars hit by landmines and others shot at by Russian troops despite having white inscriptions on the side saying 'children'.
'They hit one car, seven or eight cars from me. They hit this car with two children inside. I don't know what people could do this, actually. We are blaming Putin, that he is doing this to Ukraine, but regular soldiers are shooting civilians,' he said.
Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol has been a key target that has been besieged for more than three weeks and has seen some of the worst suffering of the war.
But no clear, independent picture emerged of how close its capture might be. Ukraine's defence ministry said on Tuesday that their forces were still defending the city and had destroyed a Russian patrol boat and electronic warfare complex.
Russia, for now, controls the land corridor from Crimea, the peninsula it annexed in 2014, and is blocking Ukraine's access to the Sea of Azov, the ministry said.
'Nobody can tell from the outside if it really is on the verge of being taken,' said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the British think tank, Chatham House.
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