Mariupol residents still do not have access to food and water, "green corridors" are needed - mayor

OLENA ROSHCHINA — WEDNESDAY, 1 JUNE 2022, 13:51

More than 100,000 people remain in Mariupol, and they have not had access to drinking water or food since April. The occupiers are giving them drinking water in exchange for their work, said the Mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko. 

Source: Vadym Boichenko on air during the national #UA together 24/7 newscast on 1 June

Quote: "The situation was and remains very difficult. In the city, the occupying forces and the forces of the OPZZh [a pro-Russian party], who have declared themselves to be in power, are holding more than 100,000 people hostage.

Before that, Russian troops killed people with Grad multiple rocket launchers and artillery; they killed more than 22,000 people… Now we see that they are preparing to continue to kill the people of Mariupol by their inaction.

They tried to do something in terms of drinking water, but they didn't succeed."

Details: Boichenko added that the number of burials in the captured city is increasing, and there are also spontaneous burials.

He emphasised that rising temperatures and downpours pose a threat of infectious diseases: outbreaks of dysentery and cholera could kill thousands of Mariupol residents.

Quote: "They (Russian occupiers - ed.) involved the "Ministry of Emergencies of the DPR" [self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic] to deliver water. But yesterday, Mariupol locals told us that they continue to be tormented: the occupying forces are simply not distributing the drinking water that has been delivered, but want the residents of Mariupol to go and clear the rubble, collect (bodies - ed.) and help them bury the dead and hide these war crimes ... Mariupol residents are working for water today…

And although they (the occupiers - ed.) show in their propaganda videos how they tried to give out food in April, this is not happening today. Since April, Mariupol residents have not had access to food and, as we can see, no drinking water.

Today, these scoundrels are holding more than 100,000 people hostage, and Mariupol residents are not able to go to the Ukrainian-controlled part of our state. Therefore, we need to unite around this problem, unite international partners, the UN, the Red Cross, and create sustainable "green corridors" so that our Ukrainian people can go to the territory controlled by our country."

Details: Commenting on the information from his adviser, Petro Andriushchenko, about the occupiers' intention to demolish the destroyed buildings in Mariupol, Boichenko said that there were only 2,600 buildings in the city, 50% of which - more than 1,000 apartment buildings - the occupiers had "reduced to ashes".

The mayor also added that 70, 100, 200 dead bodies are being taken out from under the rubble of buildings.

This is thousands of people killed. The smell of the corpses creates a stench. The city also has no functioning sewer system and no garbage collection system.

However, recently, the rubble was being cleared only by the occupiers - by the so-called "Ministry of Emergencies of the DPR", and the local population was excluded from the process. Boichenko thinks that this is so that residents could not pass on information to the legitimate authorities of Mariupol.

Background: Mariupol was blockaded by Russian troops from the first days of the war, on 1 March, and on 20 May the invaders took full control of the port city when the last Ukrainian defenders emerged from the bunkers of the Azovstal plant.