Some positive news out of Ukraine: Viktoria was finally able to reach Baba Katya! V had been trying to call her phone every few days, and did occasionally get a blip of response but nothing more substantial. When she tried yesterday (April 18), she was able to connect and they talked for a few minutes. Both Katya and Rodion are doing OK, but they aren’t quite where we thought.

Probably because of a misunderstanding on my or Viktoria’s part, we’d thought that they had left the apartment block base and gotten to a rural area northwest of Mariupol. In fact, they had gone to Oksana’s house in Talakivka (Talakovka in Russian) that had been damaged during the earlier days of the attacks. Talakivka is to the northeast of Mariupol, just past the “suburb” of Sartana. At the beginning of March, it probably seemed like Mariupol was the safer option, given the shelling that had happened in that area, but since attention has been focused on Mariupol for awhile, those outer areas are now relatively calm.

Katya, Rodion, Oksana and her family have been there for about three weeks now, but because they’re still in the Mariupol area, communications have been spotty at best. Being on the Russian-controlled side of the front, Katya was able to go to Donetsk the other day and had been staying with her sister there (Oksana’s mother, I believe) while she did some shopping for supplies and clothes for Rodion.

So that group has now been found, relatively safe and relatively sound. It’s not a great situation, but I’m sure there are alternatives that are far worse. If possible, Katya will try to get in touch with Artem and Katya 1, who aren’t that far away from Talakivka, but getting around is something of a challenge and concern. Still no word on Rodion’s mother Inna.

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The New York Times has had a couple things of interest recently. A couple of maps depicting the damage in Mariupol caught my eye the other day. This first map hasn’t been updated for a couple weeks — and the past couple weeks have had some intense attacks — but the extent of the damage to the city is vast.

This other image is a closer look at the damage to the west of the Azovstal area. Zhenya used to live out in this area, and a lot of the drone footage I’ve seen appears to have come from this part of town. This is almost exclusively residential housing, save for the typical shops, schools and places you’d find in any neighborhood.

I thought this video was good, though it’s not from around Mariupol. It was taken in a few of the smaller villages to the west, between Mariupol and Zaporozhia. There are a couple mentions of Vasylivka, which was one of the towns on the evacuation route that Katya 2 and Vanya took.

And lastly, something not from the New York Times, but an composite images posted in one of the channels I’ve been reading.