Hundreds of Ukrainians have likely been killed in a nonstop Russian attack in Mariupol that has already lasted more than 15 hours, officials said Wednesday.

The southeastern port city is already suffering mass casualties as Russia continued its shelling onslaught on residential areas, Mayor Vadym Boichenko revealed in a live Ukrainian TV broadcast.

Authorities haven’t been able to go in and retrieve any bodies, but deputy mayor Sergiy Orlov told BBC News that hundreds were feared dead after an entire district of the city was “nearly totally destroyed.”

Orlov’s father is among those who live in the area that is under heavy attack. “The situation is awful, we are near to a humanitarian catastrophe. We have been under more than 15 hours of continuous shelling without pause,” the distraught official told the outlet. “The situation is awful, we are near to a humanitarian catastrophe. We have been under more than 15 hours of continuous shelling without pause,” the distraught official told the outlet. “The situation is awful, we are near to a humanitarian catastrophe. We have been under more than 15 hours of continuous shelling without pause,” the distraught official told the outlet.  “The situation is awful, we are near to a humanitarian catastrophe. We have been under more than 15 hours of continuous shelling without pause,” the distraught official told the outlet. “One district of the city is nearly totally destroyed … We cannot count the number of victims there but we believe at least hundreds of people are dead. We cannot go in to retrieve the bodies. My father lives there, I cannot reach him, I don’t know if he is alive or dead.” He added: “The Russian forces are several kilometers away on all sides. The Ukrainian army is brave and they will continue to defend the city, but Russia does not fight with their army, they just destroy districts.” The mayor said in his earlier broadcast that Russian forces had “done everything” to block civilians from leaving — and that the city was completely surrounded by invading troops.

“We are fighting, we are not ceasing to defend our motherland,” Boichenko insisted.

At least one of the slain Mariupol victims was a teen boy who was wounded in a shelling attack while playing soccer with two of his friends near a school.

All three teens were rushed to a hospital and one of the boys, who had lost his legs, died soon after arriving, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. The other two were rushed into surgery and then intensive care.

A woman with severe face injuries from the same strike was also brought to the hospital.

Further north, Russia continued its aerial assault on Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second largest city with a population of nearly 1.5 million — on Wednesday, with a strike reportedly hitting a hospital.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that more than 2,000 civilians had been killed so far in Russia’s invasion.

Neither Ukraine or Russia have disclosed how many military casualties there have been.

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