A Russian barrage has crushed Mariupol, a major port city on the Azov Sea, thwarting efforts to evacuate residents after food, water and electricity supplies were cut off.
Evacuations from other besieged cities in various parts of Ukraine resumed on Thursday, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a day earlier that more than 60,000 people had been evacuated across the country. However, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk offered a different account at a news briefing, saying that not a single person had been evacuated from Mariupol on Thursday.
In the besieged port city, people are sheltering in basements, bodies are lying on the streets and a functional hospital is at capacity, an adviser to the mayor’s office said on Thursday. Local officials have called for days to deliver aid to the city and open a corridor to civilians outside Mariupol, but they say shelling has prevented residents from leaving.
Video recorded on Thursday and verified by The Washington Post shows the aftermath of an alleged attack by the Russian military in Mariupol. Footage filmed near the city center showed a handful of residents walking along the side of a large pothole, surrounded by a heavily damaged apartment block and nearby shops that were blown up by an explosion. At least one explosion is heard in the footage, before the man is filming and others in the vicinity rush for cover.
Petro Andryshenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor’s office, said Russian forces surrounded it and wounded at least 3,000, with 1,300 dead in the city since then. Officials say rescue workers have been unable to collect all the bodies and determine the toll.
Mariupol’s mayor, Vadim Boychenko, told The Washington Post through an aide: “The Russian occupation forces have been firing continuously for 10 days.”
“Unfortunately, there have been many civilian casualties,” he said. “Yesterday, 1,007 civilian casualties were confirmed.”
“It is almost impossible to estimate the victims accurately because of the constant shelling of the city. Some of the dead have been left under rubble or in homes.”
On the 10th day of the blockade, Mariupol has no water, electricity, heat, mobile communications or internet, he said, adding that the occupying forces have closed all entry and exits from the city. The shelling disrupted mobile communication points in the city, while damaged power lines have left it without electricity, making it impossible to charge cellphones or other gadgets without using generators.
It is not possible to reach Mariupol with food, drinking water and medicines. In addition, there are about 3,000 newborns and infants in Mariupol who need special nutritional and medical assistance,” he said. “There is a risk that the children will have nothing in the days to come” [eat],
Verifying information on the scale of the crisis in Mariupol has been challenging, as many international monitors such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe pulled out their staff before Russia’s invasion.
A statement from Mariupol city council to The Post said 43 people were buried in what was described as the city’s first mass grave in the conflict. It said he was buried in a “relatively safe” location from shelling because of the risks in other city cemeteries and neighborhoods. Associated Press footage showed men wrapping bodies in shrouds or body bags and depositing them inside a ditch.
As the toll in Mariupol soared, Russia’s foreign minister and his Ukrainian counterpart failed to find common ground at a meeting in Turkey, their first high-level talks since the invasion. Meanwhile, European leaders are scheduled to meet at Versailles, west of Paris, to discuss next steps in their coordinated response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including efforts to reduce their reliance on Russian oil and gas. are also included. Gone.
Vice President Harris said during a visit on Thursday that possible war crimes committed by Russian troops “must be absolutely investigated” and noted that the United States would seek to document any war crimes as necessary in the UN process. is in process. will participate
Harris cited coverage of the war the day before, when pregnant women going to health care were seen wounded by an attack. “There absolutely must be an investigation and we all should look into it,” she said.
She also said the United States is “absolutely prepared” to help the country with a “virtually unprecedented” number of Ukrainian refugees it received in two weeks.
Poland has already taken in 1.5 million refugees since Russia invaded Ukraine, and many of them are living with Polish families. The Americans will “do what we can and should do in terms of the burden we must bear to support Poland.” Harris also announced that the United States would donate $50 million to the United Nations World Food Program.
United Nations It said on Wednesday that Ukraine had confirmed 516 civilian casualties and more than 900 wounded since the Russian attack, but said the count was incomplete and undoubtedly much higher. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recently noted “allegations of hundreds of civilian casualties” in Mariupol and other cities, but said those figures were not included in its tally and are “being confirmed further”. Is. “
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday without evidence that the maternity hospital set on fire on Wednesday was housing Ukrainian fighters and he no women or children were in the building.
Later videos and photos show children and injured pregnant women being taken from hospital after Zelensky’s attack in Ukraine Called A “torture.” “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, that fears and destroys hospitals and maternity hospitals?” He said in a video address late Wednesday night.
The attack was condemned by Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who described it as Twitter as “corrupt”, while Britain’s Minister of the Armed Forces called it a “war crime”. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said“It’s scary to watch.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said The hospital attack was “terrible” and called for an end to the bloodshed.
“I am horrified today by the alleged attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine – an attack that reportedly left young children and women destroyed in the rubble of buildings,” said Katherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director of the UN Agency for Children. buried under.” In Statement“If this attack is confirmed, it underscores the dire impact of this war on the children and families of Ukraine.”
Timsit and Francis reported from London. Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine. Rick Noeck in Paris, Natalie Grivnyak in Lviv, Kleve R. in Warsaw. Wootson Jr. and Amy B. Wang and Dalton Bennett in Washington, DC contributed to this report.
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