Dazed survivors from Mariupol tell liz_cookman of their experiences under siege
early four weeks ago, people gathered to drink coffee and smoke shisha in the hipster bars and cafes around a kitsch ice-rink in the centre of Mariupol, a Russian-speaking industrial city in eastern Ukraine. Despite reports that war was imminent, few believed them. For years, Russianhad reported that Vladimir Putin merely wanted to help the Russian-speakers of east Ukraine.
In recent days, however, dazed survivors have managed to flee the city, bringing testimonies of their experiences under siege. I met a dozen of them at aid centres in the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia. Belichenko’s hair was slick with grease after two weeks without showering. Her baby wriggled contentedly, although her tiny clothes were streaked with grime and urine stains.
Ludmilla hasn’t yet thought about what she’s going to do for money; she is still reeling from what she has been through. She lived opposite the maternity hospital that was hit. “Men from my building ran out to help rescue babies and pregnant women from the ruins,” she said. “Seeing these things changes people.”From top to bottom: Russian bombs have fallen all around Kharkiv, including in the city’s central square.
Belichenko says she wasn’t surprised that Russia had attacked Mariupol. She’d become familiar with the Russian playbook in her hometown of Donetsk. “That conflict was terrible but nothing compared to this – this war is hell,” said Belichenko. “If this is Russian peace I don’t want to know what war is.”Dmytro’s Kharkiv diary: “I’m trying to work out whether my bedroom is a military target”
Medicine is very scarce. I wait for hours in line to buy it for people. The other day my mother and I waited together: we passed the time telling funny stories about the Britney Spears dances my older sisters used to do when we were all little. All that time, we could hear shells falling in the distance. It’s a strange, new reality.
Following the news is almost a full-time job now that the information war is so fraught. You get an update saying: “In case of medical emergency, here’s a reliable phone number”. Then ten minutes later they say it was a fake. Then a while later it turns out the news about it being fake was fake.
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