Mariupol: 4 days without communications, people in basements and houses with broken windows

YEVHEN RUDENKO, OLENA ROSHCHYNA — FRIDAY, 4 MARCH 2022 15:22

Mariupol is being shelled for the fourth day. The city is without communications, electricity,  water and heat.  There are almost no windows left in the houses.

Source: a volunteer called Olena, who has relatives in Mariupol, in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda.

Ukrainians with relatives still in Mariupol are gathering in online groups to find out what they can about them and their whereabouts. Some manage to get through to them and talk briefly about the situation in the area and about the destruction. This information is then transmitted to chat rooms.

Olena, a volunteer in one such group,told UP there is no electricity, water or heat in the city of Mariupol.

The railway link has been damaged.

People are waiting for a humanitarian corridor to be established so they can leave the city safely.

There are photographs showing destruction, but not that many: people are afraid to go out on the streets, preferring to stay in shelters and basements. They are trying to save what power remains in their phones. According to Olena, residential buildings have been shelled throughout the city.

Suburban areas of the Left Bank are especially affected; they have been under fire for the past several days. In this area there are residential buildings, schools, and kindergartens.

Mass media in the temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions are calling the city the "Mariupol cauldron".