Russian vessel loaded with steel docked at Mariupol port as Kyiv decries looting
A pro-Russia cargo vessel loaded with steel was seen docked in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol on Monday. The metal was reportedly expected to be shipped to Russia, in a move Kyiv described as looting.
A spokesperson for the port told TASS news agency that the vessel would be loading 2,700 tons of metal before travelling 160 km (100 miles) east to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in the following days.
The spokesperson did not say where the metal being shipped had been produced.
Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said the shipment amounted to looting by Russia.
Russia seized full control of Mariupol last week when more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steelworks on the Azov Sea.
Moscow's capture of Mariupol helped it secure full control of the Sea of Azov coast and create a land bridge linking mainland Russia to Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to demilitarize its southern neighbour and rid it of nationalists threatening Russian speakers there.