It’s hard not to succumb to hopelessness. Day after day the news from Mariupol remains the same; people remain trapped without food, water, electricity, heat or any contact to the outside world. When the shelling takes a pause, it’s just so the bombers can drop their ordinance on the population and then scurry back to Russia, allowing the shelling to resume. Attempts to provide humanitarian are block or attacked.

I’ve been to Mariupol at least a half-dozen times, probably even more. I’ve been visiting Ukraine for over a decade so it’s hard to keep track, but Mariupol was one of my first destinations. I personally know some of the people trapped in the city, and know more second-hand from conversations with Viktoria. I know some of those people are smart and resourceful, and had this situation only been in place for two, three, four days, I would not have been too concerned. But it’s been far longer than that, and what had been a military operation — regardless of it’s purported purpose or merit — has become a campaign of genocide. When facing that, “smart and resourceful” can only accomplish so much.

For the past two weeks, there have been great stories coming out of Ukraine. The stories about the success of the Ukrainian military have been inspiring. Farmers stealing tanks and people standing up to the Russian military make you want to cheer. I’m happy that evacuation efforts from Sumy and other parts of the country have meet with some success, and that innocent civilians are being taken out of harm’s way.

Just once, though, why can’t one of those stories be about Mariupol? The Azov Regiment defending the city has been doing a great job, but it’s a holding operation at best. Where is the story about the Ukrainian military destroying the column of Russian vehicles advancing on the city? Where’s the story about the 50 buses of humanitarian aid reaching the weary but happy citizens of Mariupol? Where’s the story about the X thousand people who were successfully evacuated to safety?

Just once I’d like to read one of those stories. And every day that there isn’t one, the hopelessness grows.

President Zelensky: “Mariupol is a peaceful and hard-working city without any internal malice. It was surrounded and blocked. It is being deliberately exhausted, deliberately tortured. The occupiers are deliberately cutting off communications. They have deliberately blocked food supply, water supply, and electricity. For the first time in decades, apparently, since the Nazi invasion, a child has died of dehydration in Mariupol.”

Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko: “I have no words today. As there are no more emotions. Mariupol experienced terrible grief. Another child died as a result of the blockade of our hometown. Cause of death is dehydration. Again. A child died of dehydration in Mariupol. My heart is full of pain and hatred for the Nazis who blockaded our Mariupol.”

The City of Mariupol website: The invaders attack the humanitarian corridor from Mariupol
Russian troops launched an attack on Mariupol in the direction of a pre-prepared route for the evacuation of the population. In this way, the invaders do not let people out of the city.

That’s not something I read; that’s what Viktoria said to me this morning. The situation in Mariupol is taking a terrible toll on her, and clearly she fears for the worst. I can’t say that I blame her or necessarily disagree. I am really concerned for her, should her fears be realized. That would definitely be hard to handle.

This should be a simple matter to address, but unfortunately there needs to be two reliable parties to any cease-fire and humanitarian corridors agreement, and it seems there’s only one such party in Mariupol. The Russians don’t appear to even be trying at this point. Today, they made the ridiculous offer of safe passage to Russia. While this might have been acceptable to a handful of people in Mariupol (there’s always a minority for any position), the proposed route was a non-starter, not in a small part because it went through “hot” parts of the conflict zone. (CNN) [Edit – Sorry, I want to point out that it’s not completely clear that a Mariupol evacuation would have been to Russia.]

Additionally, ICRC members leaving Mariupol yesterday on the previously agreed upon humanitarian corridor — the one that couldn’t be used for a second day because of Russian shelling after agreeing to a cease-fire — discovered that the route was mined. It staggers the mind that people could be this duplicitous and evil.

I know that it’s very common to cast an enemy as non-human; if something is not “one of us,” it’s emotionally easier to destroy. I’m seeing this more and more in the news articles and opinion pieces on the Mariupol city website. I’m not in favor of such dehumanizing language because it’s a slippery slope. But how do you reason with the unreasonable? How can you appeal to a person’s morality when they appear to have none?

It’s easy to understand where Viktoria is coming from, and I don’t expect that I’ll every fully buy into her Slavic fatalism. But it would seem that the odds are against the people of Mariupol.

Just a couple photos that really grabbed me today.

A view of Mariupol after some of the shelling. Given the rural foreground, I’m pretty sure this shot is from the north, looking south toward the ocean. It could also be west looking east. The direction doesn’t matter.

The train station in Kharkiv, with people trying to get out. This photo showed up today, but given news reports, I kind of think this might have been from a few days ago. Like with the Mariupol direction question, it doesn’t really matter. What matters in both images is that this is something that has really happened.

(In case you were wondering, a train evacuation for Mariupol is not possible for a couple reasons. One, being at the end of the line, the only place to go is to Volnovakha and they’ve also under attack. Second, the railroad infrastructure in and around Mariupol was damaged in shelling last week, so trains can’t even run.)

So begins a Twitter thread from the ICRC. They had been able to mediate another evacuation period for the citizens of Mariupol and Volnovakha, but it again failed to happen because of the resumption of shelling. As the ICRC points out in their thread, they can only be mediators for these things; it is up to the parties involved to carry them out. Ukraine has the motivation to do so; Russia does not.

ICRC on Twitter: “People are living in terror in Mariupol, desperate for safety. Today’s attempt to start evacuating an estimated 200,000 people has failed. The failed attempts underscore the absence of a detailed and functioning agreement between parties to the conflict. #Ukraine Thread 👇” / Twitter

As if strangling this city of a half-million people wasn’t enough, Russian shelling has also damaged a natural gas pipeline that supplies heat to Berdyansk and villages throughout the southeast part of the country. It’s still winter and it still gets cold, especially at night, and now that area is going to freeze until/unless the pipeline can be repaired. This is bad for the ordinary people, but it’s also an example of Russia’s “Ready, Fire, Aim” military strategy: Russian forces took control of Berdyansk several days ago.

A convoy of humanitarian assistance did leave Zaporizhia today, bound for Mariupol. In normal times the trip would only take 3-4 hours. As of the last reports I saw, the convoy has not yet arrived. Given the collapse of the green corridors, I would not be surprised to next read that it had to turn around, or that it had been shelled and destroyed. Hopefully it’s just being help up at some ridiculous checkpoint and it will arrive in Mariupol, eventually and safely.

I just read a report that about 400 people from Volnovakha and the surrounding villages were able to be transported to safety during the brief lull in Russian shelling. This was far less than had been hoped/planned to evacuate, but I guess anyone out of harm’s way at this point is a win.

I’m guessing that Katya 2’s father and grandmother were not part of that lucky group. I would be happy to be wrong, and I certainly post it if I hear different. (By the by, Katya 2’s father’s name is Anatoly.)

The only real location in this Russian war where the Russians have had a consistent advantage has been in the southeast of Ukraine. Since 2014-2015 there has been a line of contact between Russian-held territory (though they’d say it was DNR, as if there’s any real difference) and Ukrainian-held territory that has run only a few miles east of the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha. That’s placed these cities on the front lines of this previously slow-burning war. Being so close to Russian-held territory has meant that these cities have been well within range of even short-range missile systems for a long time.

When Russia decided to amp things up, it was a simple matter to start shelling the bejeezus out of these towns. They didn’t have to commit any troops to gain land in order to place their siege equipment; it was already in position. And so, for days on end, Russian artillery has rained down on these front line cities, with either indiscriminate indifference or intentional malice to the targeted areas. When not actively attacking residential areas, the Russians have been working to take out the infrastructure — electricity, water, central heat and communications — making the situation for civilians trapped in these area even worse.

Mariupol has been without the basics for days and the situation is desperate. Volnovahka has been all but destroyed, and yet there are still people sheltering in the few remaining structures. Talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegates two days ago agreed (probably “in principle”) to the establishment of safe humanitarian corridors to allow trapped civilians to evacuate, and after a lot of discussion there appeared to be agreements that would allow the people of Mariupol and Volnovakha to leave.

When I went to bed last night (11pm PST, 9am in Mariupol), the temporary ceasefire was supposed to start but hadn’t yet. When I got up this morning to see where things stood, it seems that the shelling had stopped around 9:30-10am, so the city council sent out the “all clear” for people to assemble and be bused out of the city. However, prior to the buses leaving, the shelling resumed (around 12pm) including around the assembly points. The ceasefire that was supposed to last until at least 4pm was already broken. Additionally, it was found that the safe corridor wasn’t safe anyway. People lucky enough to have their own transportation were instructed on the route to take, but Russian military was shelling that route as well.

It would seem that Russia isn’t happy with the war crimes they’ve already committed, and want to do just about everything possible to show the world that Hitler was a piker. Of course the story in Russian media is that they tried — really tried — to let those innocent people get to safety, but that nasty old nationalist Ukrainian army prevented people from leaving and then started firing on their own people again. What an utter crock.

So, as of Saturday morning in the US, the situation for family and friends in Mariupol has not changed. If anything, it’s actually gotten worse, because now it’s been shown that the Russians cannot be trusted to keep their word and allow civilians to escape the horrors that they’ve brought to Ukraine.

Some reading:
What happened today in Mariupol is a war crime of the Kremlin – News March 5, 2022 – 0629.com.ua
Putin dials up threats against Ukraine and Western powers as stalled evacuations trap thousands – CNN
Russians fire towards area of green corridor in Mariupol – Defense Ministry (ukrinform.net)

If you’re already bummed out by what I’ve been writing about Mariupol, you should probably skip the video below. It’s from a couple days ago, when the situation was already dire, so you can bet it’s only gotten worse since. It’s an ITV news crew bugging out after electricity was lost in the city. Sorry, but felt I should share.

If you want to do something that feels positive (even if it won’t actually help), consider writing to your senators and representatives. In the past couple days, Viktoria has asked me to write them about the move to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and the need/urgency to create “green corridors” for people to exit Mariupol. The US has already stated its position on the former and not really involved in the latter, and there’s limited things that reps and senators can do on or to influence the world stage, but letting someone in a leadership role know how you feel feels good. And maybe it will help in some way. It only takes a few minutes.

Still no updates or positive news to report from family/friends in Mariupol. The city remains largely cut off, with electricity, water, heat and communications not working, or barely working at best. Viktoria hasn’t heard from anyone, but there is something getting out of the area, somehow, because there are sporadic news reports and — this is my primary source for information — the Mariupol City Council continues to update their Telegram page (https://t.me/s/mariupolrada). The city website also gets updated (https://www.0629.com.ua/), so clearly there is some electricity and internet or mobile communications working, but apparently there’s not that much.

The most, and perhaps only, hopeful takeaway from yesterdays “peace” talks was the agreement that “green corridors” — safe passage from people to leave a war zone, or for humanitarian aid and supplies to be brought in — are probably needed. The Ukrainian side wanted a full cease-fire but were willing to go with the green corridors for now. Reports on the Russian response painted them as being fairly lackluster about it. A “well, I guess we oughta…” sort of response.

If accurate — and I have no reason to think not — it would explain why it’s taking forever to get something arranged for Mariupol. (Also this.) Sure, the Russians aren’t in any hurry; they’re warm and safe and able to shell soccer fields and kill teenagers at a distance. Why should they worry about making things nice for a bunch of scary women, children and elderly huddled in dark, cold basements? There’s already ample (and ever growing) evidence of war crimes; this should be part of that list.

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.