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At this time, every Ukrainian city that has met Russian aggression is creating its own special history. Each city has a special history of battle. Each unit has its own heroes and inspirations. Along with the military, there are volunteers who are an integral part of our victory: volunteers collect food, warm clothes, weapons, and protective ammunition for our army, and volunteers take care of military families. Pro-Ukrainian rallies continue in our cities. People whose friends have already died, people who may die any day, continue to raise the Ukrainian flag, continue to fight against the enemy in an unequal battle, continue to write.
This time: the story of Mariupol.
They are going through a lot of pain right now. As of March 18, the city is still isolated. People are dying of hunger and thirst from the occupation. As of February 27, there is no telephone connection with Mariupol.
The city has been under siege for 16 days. People are now almost out of water, food, gas and light. Since March 1, the Ukrainian side has been negotiating the creation of a humanitarian corridor, an area that will not be shelled by enemy troops so that trucks with food, medicine, electric generators and water can enter the city. But the humanitarian convoys have not been able to enter the city for two weeks, because the occupiers are opening fire on them again and again. Day after day, since the eighth of March, attempts have been made to break through the city with humanitarian convoys, but they must remain in surrounding cities due to non-compliance with the Russian occupiers’ regime of silence. Meanwhile, 400,000 Mariupol residents need help right now.
Residents were unable to evacuate for two weeks because Russian soldiers shot them as they tried to enter the green corridors. Previous attempts by civilians to escape the city end in fire from the occupiers. «Today, residents of Mariupol gathered in several areas of the city to form an evacuation column. The enemy once again showed its true face and fired on those areas of the city where people were gathering for evacuation,» – wrote the information channel of the Azov regiment on March 7.
Only on March 15 people in cars managed to break through from Mariupol to Berdyansk, and from Berdyansk people gradually moved to Zaporizhia. All the same, the humanitarian corridor during the war with Russia is a story of great risk. Private cars are gradually breaking through, but under fire. Despite all the risks, as of March 15, 29,000 people had left the city in private cars. On March 16, 16,000 people managed to escape from the city. People were able to evacuate from Mariupol because they had the courage to risk their lives to save themselves and their families, not because Russia began to fight by the rules and stopped shooting at civilians.
With extremely brutal enemy shelling, Mariupol stands–and only by deception could the Russians make their way to the city. The occupiers passed when the Ukrainian military demined one of the roads so that people could be evacuated from the city.
Read also: A miracle in Mariupol. People come out from the attacked drama theatre alive
The crimes of the Russian army in this war are many, and we cannot describe them all. Bombs were dropped near the buildings of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Ukrainian branch of the Red Cross. The occupiers deliberately bombed a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital on March 9. In nine days, 1,207 peaceful civilians died. Meanwhile, the Russian occupiers are actively working on propaganda and through social networks are trying to reach an agreement with the locals, with those whose friends and relatives they are killing. They are shelling the Mariupol mosque. In twelve days, 1,582 civilians from Mariupol were killed by Russian occupation troops. They are shelling the building of Mariupol State University. In 24 hours, at least 22 bombings of a peaceful city take place on March 13. On March 15, the Russian occupiers took hostage more than 400 people at the regional city hospital: the hospital was shelled while doctors and patients hid in basements. They destroyed the Mariupol Drama Theater; at the time of the shelling, more than 1,200 women and children were hiding there. This is not a war of one army against another army. This is the destruction of unarmed people.
Read also: In the besieged Mariupol, a child died from dehydration
There are more and more stories about the death of innocent children every day. One of them, 6-year-old girl, Tanya, died of dehydration in Mariupol. Rescuers pulled her out from under the rubble of the house. It is unknown how long the child was under them. The girl’s mother died.
The occupiers want to kill the city slowly: they are waiting for people to leave their homes and for people to surrender. It is best for them to oust civilians from the city and go to empty Mariupol. When fighting the Armed Forces in a fair fight, they lose. The resource of their war is the lives of thousands of people in Ukrainian cities.
Only the complete destruction of the occupiers can provide security for us. «Only death can stop enemy pilots. Because they know that they are destroying civilians and continue to do so, « wrote the press center of the AZOV regiment. So we keep fighting.
Mariupol needs the evacuation of civilians, Mariupol needs a humanitarian corridor, Mariupol needs a regime of silence to be able to provide medical care to the wounded and free people under the rubble.
So, do you think that these stories don’t look like the truth? Do you think this is a provocation? Can you believe what you just read?
I can hardly believe it myself. UFN is based in Lviv. No explosions can be heard here, and no corpses covered with cloth lie on the street.
But look closely at the photo. What you read is happening right now.
By Anna Rakova
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Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
