Apocalyptic footage shows how Russian missiles have reduced Mariupol to ‘the ashes of a dead land’

APOCALYPTIC footage yesterday showed how Russian missiles had reduced the strategic port city of Mariupol to the “ashes of a dead land”.

It revealed barely a building left undamaged by relentless shelling, with smoke drifting over the desolate landscape of a once-thriving city of 400,000 residents.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have bombarded the Black Sea gateway for almost a month, targeting schools, hospitals and theatres used as shelters.

Ominously, at least 100,000 residents are still there with fast diminishing supplies.

Human Rights Watch described it as a “hell-scape” as convoys trying to reach the city have largely been thwarted.

Local Julia Krytska, who fled with her husband and son this week, described passing piles of bodies.

She said: “I want the world to know about Mariupol.

“There are dead people in the streets everywhere. They can’t take them away because of the shelling.”

One official warned: “It is clear that the occupiers are not interested in the city of Mariupol, they want to raze it to the ground, to reduce it to ashes of a dead land.”

The Russians were also accused of using phosphorus bombs, which cause devastating burns and can lead to organ failure.

Sharing a video of a smoking white substance, Kyiv police chief Oleksiy Biloshytskiy  said: “Another use of phosphorus ammunitions in Kramatorsk.”

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for peace talks.

He said: “This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. It is time to end this absurd war.”

Touching film also emerged of a man playing a cello amid the rubble in Kharkiv.