Russian occupiers have destroyed more than 1,000 high-rise residential buildings in Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said.

"There are 2,600 buildings in the city. They destroyed 50% to ashes - this is more than 1,000 buildings: these are our high-rise buildings, this is not a private sector, which is also destroyed in Mariupol," he said on the air of the national telethon #UArazom.

Earlier, adviser to the mayor of the city, Petro Andriuschenko said that the occupying authorities of Donetsk region were preparing to demolish most of the buildings they had shelled in Mariupol and, regardless of the condition of the apartments, intended to evict residents literally on the street.