There are still hundreds of thousands of people in Mariupol who have to live in basements to protect themselves from Russian bombing.
The Russian army has besieged the town of Mariupol on the shores of the Azov Sea for most of the war.
Before the war, Mariupol had about 400,000 inhabitants. Most of them are still believed to be in a besieged city.
The Ukrainian army has so far managed to prevent the Russians from entering the city center.
The Russian army is bombarding Mariupol relentlessly. The city is falling into disrepair and people are having to seek refuge in basements and ruins.
In recent days, Russia has released only a few hundred cars from Mariupol. No relief supplies have been allowed into the city.
The situation of civilians is extremely difficult, as access to electricity, gas, water and food has been blocked. The city has a lot of wounded and sick people, as well as helpless children and the elderly.
A week ago, Russia bombed the Mariupol Maternity and Children’s Hospital. The attack caused several deaths. There was widespread news around the world about the deaths of a woman who had recently become pregnant and her unborn child as a result of the bombing.
A one-and-a-half-year-old boy, for example, also died in the hospital bombing.
Residential buildings are destroyed in the ravages of war.
The center of Mariupol has suffered badly.
Yesterday, the Mariupol Drama Theater was apparently hit by a plane bomb. It almost completely destroyed the building.
There were hundreds, perhaps as many as 2,000, civilians seeking refuge in the theater building. The number of victims of the attack is not yet known, but it is expected to be high. Some of those in the building have also been saved.
The aerial photo taken on Monday shows that the word “deti”, “children”, was written in Russian on the yard of a building that was still intact at the time, so that the building would not be bombed by the Russian air force.
Life is maintained in the cellars, where food is prepared from the remaining raw materials. There is already a severe shortage of food and drinking water in Mariupol.
Those who died in the war have also had to be stored in buildings if they cannot be buried due to constant bombing.