Lyudmila, 71, and Viktor, 63, cook at the entrance to the basement of an apartment building in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 30. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)
Sergei Orlov, Mariupol’s deputy mayor, described the scene in the besieged port city as Ukrainian officials try to help those still inside and evacuate citizens who have fled to surrounding areas.
“The city is totally destroyed. The city is like a ruin… we get upset, not because of the infrastructure, but because of the people. So we don’t know how to help our citizens who are suffering in the city,” he said during an interview with CNN’s Ana Cabrera. “For many days, Russia does not allow to solve humanitarian problems, provide humanitarian aid and evacuate our citizens.”
The official explained the status of the evacuation efforts and the recent mission to evacuate the citizens of Mariupol who are staying in the surrounding areas.
“I want to clarify once again that there is no solution to reach Mariupol, neither humanitarian aid nor evacuation of citizens,” Orlov noted. “We are talking about the evacuation of Mariupol citizens who are in Berdyansk, which are near Mariupol, or in the nearest villages … who reached Berdyansk itself on foot or in private cars. Many Mariupol citizens have evacuated themselves, and there are about 30-50 thousand Mariupol citizens who are currently in Berdyansk and the surrounding villages.”
“So this mission helps us and enables evacuation of Mariupol citizens from Berdyansk to Zaporizhia. She is very good. It is absolutely necessary,” he said, noting that 45 buses carrying more than 2,000 citizens, including 710 children, were evacuated.
Regarding those still in Mariupol, one of the most pressing concerns is food, Orlov said, as aid groups including the Red Cross have struggled to reach the city with food and supplies.
An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) team that traveled to Mariupol said Friday they were unable to reach the besieged city to facilitate the safe passage of civilians. The team plans to attempt the trip to the besieged city again on Saturday.
“I can’t even describe in words what life is like in Mariupol,” he said. Citizens “cannot eat… [it’s] It’s common for us to have three dishes, but three dishes a week. So we eat on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. So we can’t even eat much.”
Mariupol estimates there are still more than 100,000 citizens in the city, all hiding in the hope of safety. The official said the citizens lived “like mice”.
“They all live underground in shelters, bomb shelters in some rooms below, so just to have a chance to survive and not get killed by airstrikes, missiles or shelling,” Orlov said. “They share food with each other, so a typical meal for a day is a glass of water with … a cake or two, a glass of soup in the afternoon, and also a glass of water and a cake in the evening.”
Orlov said reports of Russians forcibly abducting residents, including children, were true.
“By the territory of Mariupol I mean mainly the outskirts that Russia is temporarily occupying. They force people to evacuate and even deport from here,” he said.
At a local hospital, Orlov says there are now up to 2,000 children without parents, a reality that would not have existed prior to the invasion.
“Before the war, before February 24, we evacuated all children without parents to Ukrainian-controlled territory … in Mariupol we had no children without parents. So if they somehow find 2,000 children without parents, how is that possible? Either her parents were killed by Russians, [or] They separated them,” he added.
Watch the interview: