Mariupol mayor fears death toll could surpass 20K in Russian siege

KYIV, Ukraine - The besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol yielded up more horrors after six weeks of pummeling by Russian troops, with the mayor saying more than 10,000 civilians have died in the strategic southern port, their corpses "carpeted through the streets."As Russia pounded targets around Ukraine and prepared for a major assault in the east, the country's leader warned President Vladimir Putin's forces could resort to chemical weapons, and Western officials said they were investigating an unconfirmed claim by a Ukrainian regiment that a poisonous substance was dropped in Mariupol.The city has seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the war, but the land, sea and air assaults by Russian forces fighting to capture it have increasingly limited information about what's happening inside the city.Speaking by phone Monday with The Associated Press, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russian forces of having blocked weeks of attempted humanitarian convoys into the city in part to conceal the carnage.

Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000.Boychenko also gave new details of allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to Mariupol to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.

He said Russian forces have taken many bodies to a huge shopping center where there are 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," the mayor said.Residents walk near damaged buildings in Mariupol, April 10, 2022. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua via Getty Images) Boychenko spoke from Ukrainian-controlled territory outside Mariupol.