There’s really not much in the way of news from the family and friends still there, I’m sorry to say, but maybe that’s as best as can be hoped for. Viktoria does talk to Baba Katya on a fairly regular basis and we are able to send them money to help out, so that’s all good. Things are still largely awful there, and that’s not likely to change any time soon. There have been a couple little tidbits that have been bothering me, though.

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In a recent call with Katya, Viktoria learned that Rodion was going to be going to summer camp in Crimea. Under normal circumstances, this would be a great adventure and something that everyone would be happy about. Unfortunately, Russia has been using children as props, weapons and shields since the start of the war, and since Crimea is under occupation, it’s probably not the best place for a Ukrainian child to be. Russia has been stealing children (Invaders take 135 more children from Donetsk region to Moscow (ukrinform.net)) as a way to undermine and destroy Ukraine; it’s a barbaric tactic as old as time and a recognized war crime (Russians stealing children to destroy next generation of Ukrainian defenders – UK ambassador (ukrinform.net)). I’ve recently seen headlines of children being taken to Russia under the guise of going to camp (or other things apparently — Russia plots to use Ukrainian children as human shield in Crimea – ombudsperson (ukrinform.net)), so hearing that Rodion would be going to camp has brought the worst possible outcome to mind. Not just for me, for Viktoria too. She urged Katya to cancel those summer camp plans and hopefully that’s what will happen.

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But it’s not like kids have to travel far to be impacted negatively by Russia. Viktoria hasn’t talked to her grandson Artem all that much — mostly because it’s difficult in general, and the fact that Artem’s mother is something of a Russia booster doesn’t help — but their last conversation was rather alarming. (I think I might have mentioned this in an earlier post.) There aren’t (or weren’t, during the school season) many schools operating in Mariupol, but the one that are (or were) had a very Russian propaganda-heavy curriculum. Artem was questioning why Viktoria would live in the US, as it forces kindergarten children to have sex or undergo gender-reassignment surgery, and other such outlandish claims. This is the sort of stuff he’s been hearing, and for children at an age where critical thinking skills aren’t yet well-developed, such propaganda becomes their reality.

As worrisome and disturbing as that is, there’s something else that concerns me with Artem. His birthday is coming next month and he’ll be 15 (I think). That, in addition to being rather tall for his age, makes him look older than he is. With Russia losing badly on the battlefield, they are doing everything possible to increase their ranks. I’m concerned — and would not be surprised — if some recruitment/conscription drive through Mariupol saw Artem, assumed he was 18 or so, and threw him in the back of truck for military service. Given the indoctrination he’s been receiving, he might even go willingly (though I’m somewhat sure that wouldn’t be the case, but who can know). Viktoria is always very concerned about “her boys” in Mariupol, and I’m sure she would be quite devastated to learn that Artem was in the Russian army. Again, this is all just a concern that I have; I have no reason to think this is going to happen.

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Even though Mariupol is not in the news every day like it was last year for a time, that doesn’t mean that things are happening there. Little of it is good, but if you can bear it, here’s a list of some of the recent news about Mariupol: Search (ukrinform.net). Ukrinform has been one of the better sources of information about the events in Ukraine since the start of the war. I’ve generally found that they have more news about Mariupol than other Ukrainian news sources.

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Over the past year I’ve occasionally seen stories about people from Russia coming to Mariupol. Many of them were about workers being brought in to do something, and then getting stiffed by the local occupation authorities. A little schadenfreude from those stories, I have to say. But what really gets my goat are the stories about people trying to profit off of Mariupol’s misery. Things like people from Russia buying property in Mariupol because “it’s so cheap” (The Russians hunting for cheap flats in occupied Mariupol – BBC News). This bothers me no end, for multiple reasons. For one, it’s Russia (or the phony DPR) selling property that doesn’t belong to them; they are, at best, temporary occupiers with no claim to the land they’re on. For another, people doing this are actively supporting the destruction of Ukraine. Even if they were to say that, for them, it’s just a great real estate deal, that’s still supporting the war. This “great deal” only exists because thousands of people were killed. That’s probably not on a sales brochure. And really, what person of good conscience could even do that? I mean, if you were looking to buy a house and found out that someone had been murdered there, you’d probably think twice about making the purchase. How could someone want an apartment in a block that was firebombed by your own country, causing deaths of the hundreds of people that lived there? It’s a mentality that I don’t think I will ever understand (not that I really want to).

There are — fortunately? — two silver linings to this story. First, most of the property being purchased doesn’t physically exist; it’s proposed or planned construction that may not come about for a long time. I’m OK with people like that (who are willing to buy the murder flats) having their money taken from them. (I sure some of the money goes to support Russia’s war machine, but I’m sure a lot of it just disappears thanks to Russian corruption.) The second is that when Ukraine resumes control of Mariupol, any such property claims probably won’t be honored. Ukraine has records of who owned what (and I’m sure that many of the people who fled the city still have their deeds and other paperwork), and that ownership will definitely take precedence over any claims from Russian carpetbaggers. So lose-lose for them. (Sorry, more schadenfreude.)