In a statement on social media, Azov Regiment said every day Russian forces stage at least 100 air assaults targeting besieged Mariupol with bombs dropped every 10 or 15 minutes.

The paramilitary volunteer group that is now holding back Russian troops said the city needs air defense system ‘in the first place’ to stop ‘genocide’ of its residents.

Azov Batallion said that Russian airstrikes are hampering evacuation of civilians as aggressors seek to destroy people both ‘morally and physically’ while pilots of Russian military planes keep hitting civilian targets from air.

‘People who live in this city and defend it deserve to see these planes set ablaze and disappearing from the skies over Mariupol, to see their pilots getting proper punishment for every killed resident of Ukraine’s fortress. Mariupol is Ukraine.’