Ukraine: Russian troops take 500 hostage in Mariupol hospital, says report

Kyiv: Russian troops are said to have seized a hospital in Mariupol and took about 500 people hostage late Tuesday, Khaleej Times reported on Wednesday.

According to reports Russians troops forced 400 people from neighbouring houses to move into the Regional Intensive Care Hospital to join about 100 doctors and patients who are believed to be inside the building.

The Russian troops are accused of using those people inside the hospital as human shields and are not allowing anyone to leave.

The main building of the hospital is said to have been heavily damaged by Russian shelling, but medical staff there has continued treating patients in makeshift wards set up in the basement.

The Ukrainian army's General Staff said that the Russian troops are trying to block off the city from the western and eastern outskirts of the city. (UNI)