Mayor of Mariupol says 5,000 of its citizens have been killed by Russians, as Putin’s forces regroup for fresh attack on east of Ukraine

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Cemetery workers load the corpses of civilians killed in Bucha into a truck, to be transported to the morgue, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: AP

Independent.ie Newsdesk

The mayor of the besieged port city of Mariupol has put the number of civilians killed there at more than 5,000, as Ukraine braced for what could become a climactic battle for control of the country's industrial east.