With Russia’s Week Four offensive, Major Denis Prokopenko of the Azov National Guard Regiment told CNN that air and ground attacks on the city are now almost relentless.
“Usually Mariupol is under fire throughout the day and night. Sometimes there is 30 minutes of silence, but then the city is shelled again. [from] tanks, artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and [aircraft] like bombers and helicopters,” he said.
Mariupol has been under siege for weeks and has seen the most brutal shelling of the war since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February. These included fatal strikes on a maternity hospital and a theater bombing, from which casualties are still unknown as the rescue operation continues.
The city is located on a stretch of coastline connecting the eastern part of Donbass with the Crimean peninsula, both of which have been under Russian control since 2014. two regions, squeezing Mariupol with brute military force.
Russia denies it has targeted civilians in Mariupol, blaming Ukrainian forces for the losses.
Prokopenko said people in the city are now reluctant to leave their underground shelters even to get essentials, meaning they are trying to drink less water and eat less food, only going out to cook hot meals.
“People cook food on the streets, risking their lives under continuous shelling and bombing,” the military commander said. “The temperature outside is minus 5 degrees Celsius.”
Basic services such as gas, electricity and water are not available in the city. The bodies are left on the street because there is either no one to collect them, or it is simply too dangerous to try.
Prokopenko said that no one knows the exact number of those killed. “Some people are buried under collapsed buildings, buried alive,” he said.
Information about a powerful attack three days ago on a theater in Mariupol, which was used as a shelter, appeared slowly.
Prokopenko said he believed the building, which also served as the city’s main collection point for humanitarian aid, was serving as a temporary home for about 800 people when it was shelled.
He confirmed earlier reports that constant Russian artillery fire made it very difficult to get survivors out of the building.
According to figures released by several Ukrainian leaders, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, 130 people have been rescued, including one with serious injuries.