Mariupol.Photo: SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty
“The ground was shaking,” one Mariupol resident, named Ruslana, told thePost, adding: “The scariest thing was that when you went out in the street, you saw that nobody was allowed to collect the bodies. A lot of buildings were on fire. We know that a lot of families burned alive.”
Others described survival in Mariupol in similar terms. “There were no light, there was no water,” one woman said. “It was hell,” said another, per theTimes.
Mariupol has apparently become a central target for Russian aggression in recent weeks.
In March, it was reported that a theater in Mariupol, in which hundreds of Ukrainian residents weretaking shelter, was bombed — even though the word “children” was written in Russian outside the building.
“On 16 March, Russian air force dropped a powerful bomb on the building of the drama theatre in Mariupol. The theatre building served as a shelter for hundreds of Mariupol residents who had lost their homes as a result of Russian armed forces bombing and shelling the city,“a statementfrom the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine read, in part.
“The bomb strike demolished the central part of the theatre building, causing large numbers of people to be buried under the debris. The assessment of the exact number of persons affected is currently impossible due to ongoing shelling,” the statement continued.
Later that same month, theAssociated Press reportedthat residents of Mariupol had begun burying their dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of the city. Up to9,000 bodiesare feared to be in the mass grave, per Ukrainian officials.
Russian military forces also severely damaged a children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyysaid in a tweet last month, writing: “People, children are under the wreckage Atrocity!”
On Thursday, Russian PresidentVladimir Putinclaimed that his forces had “liberated” the city, saying in public remarks, “the work of the armed forces to liberate Mariupol has been a success. Congratulations.”
Russia’sattack on Ukrainecontinues after their forces launched a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24 — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.
With NATO forces amassed in the region, various countries are offering aid or military support to the resistance. Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has called for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
