Russian troops have surrounded the city of Mariupol, Ukraine. And due to the continuous bombing by the Russian army, the contact of this city with the outside world has been cut off. There are still many people present in the city whose relatives are trying to contact them.
The parents of Dmitro Gurin, a Ukrainian parliamentarian who grew up in Mariupol, are also currently trapped inside the city. And Gurin was able to talk to his neighbors for the last time four days from now.
Gurin says, "We talked for 30 seconds. After that, he went to a place where the signal was being received. There are some places in the city where people know about getting the signal."
He said that "My parents are alive and living in the basement of their apartment building. Try to understand my point that these are not shelters where electricity, water, and toilets are available. It is just a basement. And Nothing."
Gurin says that till now his family members were trying to melt ice and drink water and were cooking food by burning fire in the open space.
He says, "Can you imagine this? At 67 and 69, your parents are drinking ice floes and cooking and eating outdoors in winter, when there is constant bombardment."
"It's no longer just war. Here one army is not facing another. It's carpet bombing. It's a war between Russia and humanity."
strategically important city
Arthur Bondarenko, 35, a coffee distributor in Odessa, says he was anticipating every day, sending messages to close friends, including a family with a six-year-old.
He says, "I message him every day saying hello, good morning, how are you? But no message reaches."
Bondarenko says that he last spoke to this family on March 2.
"They didn't have water, electricity and heating system. There was no shelter under their house," he says.
The city of Mariupol, with a population of four million, is strategically important for Russia because the capture of this city will allow Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine to join forces with troops in Crimea to participate in military operations.
The Russian army has been bombarding this city continuously for the past nine days, due to which many buildings and residential areas have been grounded. And after failing to win over Ukrainian forces in ground fighting, Russia appears to be heading for a brutal campaign of bombing cities.
the situation is very dire
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Thursday that the situation in Mariupol was "most dire".
Last Wednesday, two adults and a girl were killed in an attack in Mariupol. Along with this, 17 other people were injured. The maternity ward and children's ward of a hospital were also destroyed in this attack.
Diana Berg, a woman who managed to escape with her husband on Friday, says she found out about the attack in the news.
She said, "What happened yesterday was very brutal and shocking. This hospital is very close to my house. I went there only last week. My family doctor is there. I don't know if he is alive now or not. "
Berg has not been able to contact her mother-in-law since last Saturday and she has no idea that she is alive.
Berg says, "After we left, there was a message from her in which she said that she was alive and she knew that we were alive. We have not known anything since then. We use the Telegram app. We are watching the media. are. and nothing else."
dead buried in mass graves
Mariupol's deputy mayor Serhiy Orlov told the BBC on Thursday that the administration had begun the process of burying the bodies of those killed in the attacks.
According to the administration, about 1300 common people have died so far.
"It is not possible to bury the dead individually because of the continuous bombing and the high death toll," he said.
Berg says news of mass graves has spread to Telegram chat groups. People keep an eye on the internal conditions of the city with the help of these groups.
"We haven't received any news from our friends. All we know is that they may be buried in these mass graves," she says.
Russian forces have opened fire despite ceasefire agreements, thwarting several rescue operations carried out over the past five days to evacuate people living in Mariupol.
Orlov says the city's administration was ready to launch a rescue operation at any time, but no agreement could be reached with Russia to build a humanitarian corridor.
Orlov says about 100 people tried to leave Mariupol in private cars on Thursday, even passing through a checkpoint in Ukraine, but had to turn back after Russian forces attacked cars close to their exit.
fears of a humanitarian crisis
Orlov's parents and brothers are trapped in the part of Mariupol that is being bombed. And he has not been able to contact her for the last nine days.
Fears of a serious humanitarian crisis in Mariupol are rising after reports of people drinking ice-melt water and shortages of medicines and food.
English teacher Oleksandr Protyah, 43, says his mother and close friends are stranded in the city and may have run out of diabetes medicines.
He says, "I was able to arrange insulin for him on the first day of the war, but now his insulin may have run out or will be about to run out. This is a huge humanitarian crisis."
Gurin says that soon there may be a food crisis in the city.
"The next problem will be dealing with hunger. It's no joke. Within a week the center of Europe will face starvation," he says.
Responding to the attack on Mariupol's hospital on Wednesday, Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko accused Russian troops of brutality.
He says, "How can this be justified. This is the genocide of our people by Russia."
what does Russia say
At the same time, Russia has claimed on Thursday that the maternity ward which was damaged in this attack was captured by the Ukrainian army even before it was attacked.
But photographs taken by the Associated Press news agency showed medical staff after the blast and a pregnant woman being carried out on a stretcher.
Orlov says, "Thank God most people were already in the bomb shelter. Otherwise, it would have been a huge tragedy."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the attack brutality and has once again urged global powers to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine. However, so far this request of Ukraine has not been accepted.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kuleba said on Thursday that his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov has told Ukrainian officials that Russia will continue its offensive until Ukraine accepts all Russian conditions, including surrender.
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