Russian troops held up an evacuation convoy at Mangush Tuesday while it was evacuating people from Mariupol to Berdyansk, with the evacuees now being forced to go to Russia via Donetsk.

Nataliya Yemchenko, communication head of Rinat Akhemtov’s System Capital Management (SKM) said on Facebook the Russian military have staged massive deportation of people from Mariupol area to Russia.

‘Some people are leaving voluntarily, just not to stay in basements, others are either being tricked or forced to leave. It is a clear fact that people [later] turn up in Taganrog, with some being forced to hand in passports to be given certificates, while others are being told they have been issued a 2-year ban for travel to Ukraine’.

Many of those who left are reportedly trying to reach out to human rights officials in Ukraine for counseling.

The people who were caught up in the situation on the evacuation convoy blocked near Mangush are now vehemently protesting against their deportation to Russia.

‘People are screaming and trying to make the [Russian] military to let them carry on to Berdyansk and Zaporizhzhya’.

Yemchenko said Ukrainian officials are now able only to ‘document the fact’ as there is no ‘algorithm’ to resolve the impasse.