Ukrainians deported to Russia from besieged Mariupol dream of home

Local resident gather in a courtyard near a block of flats heavily damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 18, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

KYIV (Reuters) - Mila Panchenko found herself on a station platform in southwest Russia after lack of food and water forced her to hand herself over to pro-Russian forces to escape the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

At the station in Taganrog, a port on the Sea of Azov, she was put on a train along with around 200 other Ukrainians and told they were being transported to another part of Russia's Rostov region, which borders Ukraine.