Kiev, Mar 9 (IANS): A Ukrainian MP has told the BBC that authorities in the besieged south-eastern city of Mariupol believe they have just three days of food supplies left available to them before hunger starts to set in.

Dmytro Gurin, whose parents live in Mariupol, said the Mayor's office had told him that the streets of the port city are lined with bodies and that authorities have been forced to dig a "mass grave for 33 people because the cemeteries are inaccessible because of shelling".

"Now we have a situation where civilians and peaceful cities are carpet-bombed," Gurin said.

"My parents live in the eastern district of Mariupol, there isn't any military infrastructure in this area and never were."

The Ukrainian MP urged the Western nations to recognise that " Third world war has already started", and urged the US to allow Poland to equip the Ukrainian Air Force with old MiG-29 fighter jets, the BBC reported.

"The only question of when to join these forces is how many Ukrainians die and how many Ukrainians will die in a week," he said.

"Great Britain remembers making this choice 80 years ago and we think it's an important choice, not only for us, but for you and for your future."