KYIV (AFP) - At least 5,000 people have died in the besieged port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion last month, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday (March 28).

"About 5,000 people were buried, but the burials stopped 10 days ago because of continued shelling," Ms Tetyana Lomakina, a presidential adviser now in charge of humanitarian corridors, told AFP by phone, adding that as many as 10,000 people may have died.