Ukraine accused Russia of forced mass deportations from Mariupol to Russian cities, comparing the tactic to Nazis in WWII
Ukrainian officials said thousands of people in Mariupol had been taken to Russia against their will.
The residents were taken to camps then shipped on to remote areas of Russia, they said.
Ukraine likened the tactic, which has not been independently verified, to Nazi labor camps.
Ukraine accused Russia of forcibly taking thousands of people in the besieged city of Mariupol and deporting them to remote Russian cities, comparing the tactic to the events of World War II.
Inna Sovsun, a Ukrainian MP, claimed on Sunday that people trapped in Mariupol, a strategic coastal city that has been the target of intense attack from Russia, were being taken against their will across the border and farther into Russia.
"They're taking Ukrainian citizens, sending them through what are called filtration camps, and then relocating them to distant parts of Russia to work for free," Sovsun told Times Radio. "This is the logic of Nazi Germany."
Ukraine's human-rights spokesperson, Lyudmyla Denisova, elaborated on the reports on Sunday, claiming that people were being "sent by rail to various economically depressed cities in Russia."
"Our citizens have been issued papers that require them to be in a certain city," Denisova said in a Telegram post seen by Insider. "They have no right to leave it for at least two years with the obligation to work at the specified place of work. The fate of others remains unknown."
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko likened the developments to Nazi Germany, telling CNN on Saturday: "What the occupiers are doing today is familiar to the older generation, who saw the horrific events of World War II when the Nazis forcibly captured people."
During World War II, Nazi Germany deported Jews and other victim groups to ghettos, shooting sites, and concentration camps in German-occupied territories.
In many of the camps, Nazis exploited the forced labor of so-called "enemies of the state" for economic gain and to meet labor shortages during the war, according to the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
"It is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia"
The reports of forced removals have not yet been independently verified.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told CNN on Sunday that the tactic would be "unconscionable" if true.
"I've only heard it. I can't confirm it," Thomas-Greenfield told CNN. "But I can say it is disturbing. It is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps."
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed over the weekend that more than 2.7 million Ukrainians had asked to be evacuated to Russia, according to the state news agency TASS.
The Times of London cited a report by RIA Novosti, another state news outlet, which claimed that hundreds of Mariupol residents had arrived in different cities across Russia, including Yaroslavl, Taganrog, and Ryazan.
RIA, per The Times, reported that 480 people got to Yaroslavl, 400 miles from Ukraine, to be housed at a sanatorium. It quoted one evacuee saying it was his "dream" to live in Russia.
Around 300,000 people are believed to still be trapped in Mariupol, enduring weeks of Russian bombardment with no power or running water, The Kyiv Independent reported last week.
Ukraine rejected a Russian deadline on Sunday demanding Mariupol's defenders lay down their arms in exchange for safe passage out of the city.
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