The Ukrainian city, surrounded by Russian troops, has been trying to survive the bombing and cuttings for ten days, waiting for the arrival of a humanitarian convoy.
The city of Mariupol is going through a dramatic situation. This strategically located port in southeastern Ukraine, which has always been the target of Russian advances, has been under siege for ten days. The situation there is becoming more and more alarming. With no water, food, electricity or communications, residents live in anticipation of a slowly arriving humanitarian convoy.
22 explosions in 24 hours
Situated between Crimea and Donbass, Mariupol is a particular target of the Russian offensive and has been under heavy bombardment for several days now. More than 2,180 residents of Mariupol have died since the Russian offensive began, the city’s mayor’s office said on Sunday. Soldiers and civilians are buried in hastily created mass graves.
“Women and children went into the basements, and then mortar shells hit the building. We got stuck in the basement, two children died,” Anastasia Erashova, a French resident who lost her child, said with tears in her eyes.
“The occupiers are cynically and deliberately attacking residential buildings, densely populated areas, destroying children’s hospitals and urban infrastructure,” the mayor’s office of this strategic city located between Crimea and Donbass said.
“During the day, we survived 22 shelling of a peaceful city. About 100 bombs have already been dropped on Mariupol,” the mayor said.
“People are dying of hunger, thirst”
Dr. Mego Terzian, President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), returned from Ukraine, talks on BFMTV about the “very, very difficult situation in the city”, according to one of his colleagues who stayed there and was contacted by phone a few days later . , early.
In place, the population is trying to survive with numerous restrictions that make their daily lives very difficult. “There is no electricity, no drinking water, no food or very little, almost no medicine in the hospitals that are still functioning,” the doctor lists.
“A colleague said he was collecting snow to get drinking water,” he says.
“People are dying of hunger, of thirst,” warns Alexander, 35, at Le Monde. Originally from the city, he was able to contact his parents by phone, who stayed there and told him about their daily life.
“Mom, with tears in her eyes, says that she cooks leftover food on a fire in the street between the bombings,” he laments. “To avoid dehydration, they drink water while draining radiators,” he continues.
“Ice Cold”
Added to these restrictions are severe weather conditions. It is especially cold in Ukraine right now, and the living conditions in Mariupol make the daily life of its inhabitants especially difficult.
“Now it’s -8°C outside, and the maximum temperature in apartments is 10°C,” says Alexander.
“Today it’s cold in (his parents’) apartment because there is no gas, no water, no heating in the city, and all the windows have blown up,” he explains. Many of the remaining residents consider their situation desperate.
“No one in the city believes that they will survive,” Alexander assures.
Mariupol is still awaiting the arrival of a humanitarian convoy on Monday, after the vehicles were forced to turn around on Sunday due to incessant Russian fire, according to city mayor advisor Petr Andryushchenko. Another attempt is scheduled for Monday.
Juliette Demonceau with AFP