There's Something About Mariupol
It's hard to go on with our everyday lives when people are trapped in hell.
For those of us who can’t fathom what it’s like living in Mariupol at the moment, a woman who recently escaped offered a suggestion during her interview with a BBC reporter:
Go into your basement. Shut off all the heat, electricity and water. You have no food. There is no bathroom. You haven’t bathed in weeks. You are freezing, hungry and dehydrated. It’s dangerous to go outside. There is little chance to get away from the city.
Unbelievably, this same woman told the BBC reporter that she plans to somehow go back to Mariupol, because her conscience tells her she has to help other people escape.
Imagine. You are living in what has been aptly described as “hell on earth.” You are incredibly lucky to have been one of the few who took a chance and made it out, away from the shelling, starvation, despair and death. Yet you’re dealing with extreme guilt because you know what’s there - you lived through it - and you don’t want anyone else to continue to suffer.
Of all the Ukrainian cities being pummeled by Russian forces, Mariupol seems to be taking the most extreme hit. A maternity hospital, residential buildings and a theater where hundreds of people were sheltering have been targeted. Those who haven’t been able to leave have been cut off from the rest of the world: no internet or phone, no food, no medical supplies. No one is quite sure how many people have died because it’s too dangerous to assess the situation while the horror continues.
Why so much destruction and devastation in one city? What is it about Mariupol that has made it Putin’s punching bag? Did anyone in the city anticipate what would happen? Is there hope for those still trapped in the city? We did a little research to find out as much as we could.
Why Mariupol?
According to Sergei Kuznetsov in Politico, Mariupol is “a key city for the creation of a land-based corridor between Russian-occupied Crimea and the regions in the east of the country that are under the control of Russian-backed separatists.” The 10th-largest city in Ukraine, Mariupol is also a leading trade port along the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait. The Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait are supposed to be shared waters, but Putin doesn’t like to share. If he could take over Mariupol, Putin would gain sole control of the Sea of Azov and monopolize the Black Sea for Russia’s economic and logistical purposes.
Did the assault of Mariupol come as a complete surprise?
It probably shouldn’t have. Russia tried to take over Mariupol in 2014, when it began fighting for control of the Donbas area. Ukrainian forces eventually drove them out of Mariupol, but not before 30 civilians had been killed. The idea that Putin could again try to invade the area on his march toward the sea lingered for years.
Still, as late as January of this year, many officials in Mariupol downplayed an imminent threat. “War is playing out on TV and social media,” Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, told the Financial Times. “But I really don’t think there’s a risk of such a war.”
By early March, Boychenko was speaking to the media in a basement to escape the battering the city was taking at the hands of the Russian army. Just yesterday, Boychenko said that thousands of people had been killed in Mariupol and 90 percent of its residential buildings had been destroyed. “Mariupol needs a complete evacuation,” he said.
How many people have managed to flee and how many are still stranded?
In early March, Russia offered to open a few humanitarian corridors so residents could leave besieged cities like Mariupol. Ukraine rejected that offer when it was revealed that those corridors would lead to Russia and its close ally, Belarus. When opportunities did arise to evacuate civilians, Russian forces thwarted efforts by allegedly bombarding the routes. It was also reported that some residents of Mariupol were being forcibly taken to Russia.
About 7,200 people had been able to leave Mariupol on March 20 via a few humanitarian corridors, according to Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. Outside assistance may finally be arriving. France’s Emanuel Macron announced on March 26 that he would be working with Greece and Turkey to help with the evacuation of Mariupol. “We are coordinating and we will then negotiate with the Russians,” he said. About 350,000 people remain trapped in the city.
How will the situation in Mariupol play out?
Ukraine has refused to surrender Mariupol. Ukrainian military forces are putting up a strong effort to defend the city. “But ultimately it looks as if it’s going to have to collapse. It’s going to be taken,” Former CIA Director David Petraeus said. "This is going to be a very tenuous period over the next few days as we see what happens in Mariupol, what the Russians are able to do as a result of it and then how the Ukrainians can respond.”
Want to read more about Mariupol?
You can read more about the significance of Mariupol in Putin’s plan here. This is a good article written by the last journalists in the city. And while this is very difficult to read, it is a firsthand account of what life has been like for Mariupol’s citizens.