From the BBC:
“Mariupol under siege: 'We are
being completely cut off'”
(Residents of Mariupol say they
are under continuous bombardment. "We are terrified," said Maxim)
Residents of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have told the BBC they are trying to survive a relentless barrage of Russian shelling that has smashed residential districts and cut off power and water supplies. "There has been no light, no heat, and no water now for two full days and we have hardly any food left," said Maxim, 27, an IT developer who was hiding in his grandparents' apartment on Thursday morning. "Food and medicine is not moving in Mariupol now. The local government tried to give out bread and water but it is gone," he said. "I filled the bath with water before the water stopped. We have about five litres left." Maxim left his apartment after the Russian invasion began last week to be with his grandparents, who are in their eighties and cannot leave their sixth-floor, city-centre apartment. The three of them are sheltering with their pets in the hallway of the apartment, with no heating in the depth of winter, hiding from a barrage of shelling. "The shelling started again at six this morning," Maxim said. "The city was completely black overnight, there was no source of light apart from the explosions. It was quiet for a few hours but then at dawn it started again. We can hear it now from every direction. We are terrified."
(A detonation on the horizon,
photographed by Maxim)
Mariupol, a city of 400,000, is a
key strategic target for Russia, because seizing it would allow Russian-backed
rebels in eastern Ukraine to join forces with troops in Crimea, the southern
peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Russia's defence ministry urged civilians
on Thursday to evacuate the city by a humanitarian corridor, but residents said
there had been no break in the shelling to allow people to move. Communications
have been virtually down for two days, residents said, preventing people in the
city from reaching one another. Multiple calls to residents either disconnected
repeatedly or failed to connect in the first place. Speaking to the BBC on
Thursday morning, the city's deputy mayor Serhiy Orlov said the whole city was
now without power, water, or its sanitation system. "We had 15 main power
lines and all of them are now down. We are getting completely cut off -
destroyed by artillery. Only the natural gas supply is left," he said. "Mariupol
is still Ukrainian right now, we still control inside the perimeter, but there
is fighting on the streets on the outskirts and we are on the line of a
humanitarian crisis."
(A damaged residential building
in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol)
Mr Orlov still hasn't been able
to reach his father, mother and brother, who live together in a residential
district that has been heavily bombarded since Monday night, he said. "I
can't reach them by any means, the shelling is continuous." Dmytro, an
activist in the city, told the BBC he could hear constant gunfire and
explosions from where he was sheltering. After less than a minute the phone
connection cut off and he couldn't be reached again. Alexander, a 44-year-old
engineer in the city, said he was sheltering with his wife, two sons and mother
in a five-storey building. "We have been bombed and shelled for five days
and right now I can hear shots and bombs non-stop," he said. "There
is still some bread at the shop near us, but we don't know when the food supply
will end. What will happen when we run out of our water? What will happen when
my phone battery dies? We will have no connection to the outside at all."
^ Mariupol has become the new
Leningrad. The Siege of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) was caused by the Germans.
The Siege of Mariupol is caused by the Russians. ^
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