Mariupol city council said Russia was constantly and deliberately shelling critical civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian southern port, leaving it without water, heating or power and preventing bringing supplies or evacuating people.
"They are breaking food supplies, setting us up in a blockade, as in the old Leningrad," the council said in a statement.
"Deliberately, for seven days, they have been destroying the city's critical life-support infrastructure. We have no light, water or heat again."
The council said it was seeking to create a humanitarian corridor for the city, as well as trying to restore infrastructure.
"We are being destroyed as a nation. This is genocide of Ukrainian people," it said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
