Russia has been besieging the port city for more than a week. Authorities have begun mass burial of civilians and soldiers. The bombing of Russia has destroyed power lines, the city’s deputy mayor says.
In the fiercely bombed Russian port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, authorities have decided to start burying dead civilians and soldiers in mass graves.
According to them, the morgue is full and there are more corpses in the apartments, so it is no longer possible to expect an individual funeral for each.
According to the news agency AP, 40 bodies from homes and morgues were brought to the mass grave dug in the city’s old cemetery for burial on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is unclear how many corpses have been brought to the scene in total, the AP says. That grave is scheduled to close on Thursday.
The corpses are being buried without ceremonies because of the continuing bombing. An explosive hit the cemetery on Tuesday as well.
Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Bochenko according to the city, it has been difficult to count the number of deaths because the bombing did not take a break at all.
Deputy Mayor: Medieval conditions
On Wednesday, Ukraine said Russian forces had bombed a children’s and maternity hospital in downtown Mariupol. 17 people are said to be wounded. According to Ukraine, the attack is a war crime.
Mariupol was among the towns that were supposed to have a ceasefire on Wednesday to get civilians out of the city. In Mariupol, attempts have been made to secure the evacuation corridor in the past, but the ceasefire has been bombed.
According to Orlov, Mariupol has been without heating energy, electricity and gas for more than a week. He says Russia has bombed all 15 power lines that led to the city and blasted a gas connection.
– We sent workers to fix the line. The Russians bombed them immediately and they had to leave, the deputy mayor said.
According to Orlov, the townspeople have to live in cool medieval conditions. The food has to be cooked over an open fire and the townspeople are happy to have snow because they get drinking water from it.
Orlov estimates that about 200,000 people would like to leave Mariupol. However, only a couple, three thousand are taken out every day.
– (President of Russia) Vladimir Putin intends to take Mariupol without regard to human costs, Orlov tells The Guardian.
Mariupol, located on the shores of the Azov Sea, is home to about 450,000 people. It is administratively located in the Donetsk region.
Mariupol is an important industrial city and its port is the second largest in Ukraine after Odessa. The conquest of the city would help the rebels in eastern Ukraine gain land access from the areas under their control to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia took over from Ukraine in 2014.