On the territory of the Mariupol Sea Commercial Port, the Russian military took hostage the crew members of another vessel - a dry cargo ship BLUE STAR-1 flying the flag of Liberia, said the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada Lyudmila Denisova.

According to her, 18 sailors, who are citizens of Ukraine, were taken to the territory of the temporarily occupied Donetsk..

The dry cargo ship entered the port of Mariupol at the end of February and was blocked by the Russian military. Communication with the crew was lost on March 25, 2022. It is known that for lack of food, the crew was forced to switch to two meals a day..

According to preliminary information, which the Ombudsman has, about 200 crew members of several ships blocked by the occupiers in the port of Mariupol may be in captivity of the invaders..

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A day earlier, the Commissioner for Human Rights reported that on the territory of the Mariupol Sea Commercial Port, Russian invaders seized and took away in an unknown direction the crew of the SMARTA vessel flying the flag of Liberia. 18 crew members were also citizens of Ukraine, one citizen of Egypt.