Ukraine sinks Russian ship as Moscow accused of forcible deportations from Mariupol

Ukrainian forces have been bolstered by the dramatic destruction of a major Russian landing ship as it brought in supplies to its troops, as Moscow was accused of forcibly deporting thousands of people from the besieged city of Mariupol.

As Ukrainian forces struggled to hold the flattened city, it was claimed that civilians in captured territory were being deceived into leaving shelters to be bussed out to Russian camps by soldiers wielding loudhailers.

Officials said 15,000 residents of the encircled city had been deported so far after being told by the soldiers that Ukraine had abandoned them, with some sent as far as the Russian island of Sakhalin in the Pacific.

Dramatic pictures were aired of billowing fire and black smoke as the Orsk, docked in Berdiansk on the Azov Sea, was hit by Ukrainian ballistic missiles.

The ship, which contained weapons and supplies for forces fighting in Mariupol, had featured in a report on Russian television just a few days previously.

It was said to be capable of carrying 20 tanks, 45 armoured vehicles and 400 troops. The fire on the Orsk reportedly spread to other vessels as well as an ammunition depot and a fuel terminal in the port.

The situation, however, remains grave in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said, with attempts to evacuate the remaining 100,000 residents blocked by Russian troops.

Russian soldiers with loudhailers were instead said to be driving around parts of the city claiming that the city of Odesa has fallen and that other havens for refugees were now rejecting fleeing people.

Claims of attacks on civilians elsewhere in Ukraine, denied by the Kremlin, continue to be made in growing numbers.

It was reported that desperate attempts were also being made to rescue people, including a pregnant woman and six children, from a shelter in Shchastynska, in Luhansk, after the office building in which they were hiding was bombed.