As I’ve noted previously, Mariupol has been getting short-shrift in the war news. Not that it’s a competition, of course, and the destruction happening to Kyiv and Kharkiv are important subjects to cover. But things are categorically worse in Mariupol and have been for the better part of a week. Kyiv and Kharkiv get little breaks for their attacks; Mariupol was just shelled for 26 hours straight.

I noted yesterday that the city was largely surrounded, and its electricity and heat had been cut off by attacks. It seems that news organizations are starting to notice the situation down south and start reporting on it. The BBC has had a couple stories in the past day:
Ukrainian city of Mariupol ‘near to humanitarian catastrophe’ after bombardment
Mariupol under siege: ‘We are being completely cut off’

CNN had a story as well:
Key city of Mariupol under siege as Russia tightens grip on Ukraine’s south
One thing I don’t like about CNN’s story is the map they’re using that shows the city already under Russian control, which it’s not. But the situation is not good and that might be the case soon.

Unfortunately, the city’s electricity, heating and water are all largely out, and because of the near-constant shelling, repair crews are having trouble getting things back up. Also, consistent with Russia’s shift the other day to target communications around cities (I guess you sometimes have to take a break from bombing schools and hospitals), contact with Mariupol has been spotty at best because of various attacks. As a result, Viktoria hasn’t been able to contact family or friends for well over a day.

This means that the group in Mariupol hasn’t gotten some relatively good news. You may recall from a previous post that Katya 2’s father and grandmother were essentially trapped in Volnovakha. (Katya 2’s aunt and cousin also live there and were similarly trapped.) The cousin was able to get a message to Zhenya yesterday that father, grandmother, aunt and cousin have all be safely evacuated. Evacuated to where wasn’t told, because that information isn’t supposed to be given out at this time, but people are safe. Unfortunately, Katya 2 and her mother Nellie haven’t gotten this news yet, so they’re probably still worried about that as well as their own situation.

UPDATE: I’ve gotten some clarification on the above, and things aren’t quite a good as I’d written. Katya 2’s aunt, cousin (and apparently, a daughter of the cousin) were evacuated, but her father and grandmother were not. Initial evacuation was women and children. That excludes the father, obviously, and the grandmother has difficulty getting around, so she was probably skipped in the initial round for expediency. So slightly good news, but not as good as originally hoped.