Viktoria read today (on one of the many Viber channels she’s be following since the war started) that the apartment block with her mother’s and son’s apartments was on fire. Before it sounded like it was just the end of the building, unfortunately where her mother’s apartment was located, but now it seems that the entire building may have been engulfed. She also read that the next apartment block over had been destroyed. I haven’t been able to find any pictures or other confirmation, so I don’t know for sure.

Based on the pictures coming out of Mariupol, this development is certainly possible. You’ve probably seen plenty of images, but here are some pictures on the city website showing some of the destruction. With the possible/likely loss of her family’s apartments, Viktoria feels she’s become homeless. She grew up in her mother’s apartment. It was the “permanent address” that everyone could rely on and use. Her son’s apartment was just one entrance over. Like I wrote earlier, he’d taken possession of the family photo albums after V’s mother passed away. If there’s been a fire through the whole apartment block, it’s likely those albums are now lost. So Viktoria feels that she’s lost everything — her past, her city, her home.

What’s worse is that some of those Viber channels that V has been reading have been inundated by Russian users. Almost to a person (I’m told by Viktoria) they call reports of damage and destruction false, as if the people living there don’t know what they’re seeing. It’s to be expected, when so many of the Russian people have only one source of news — government propaganda. You’ve probably seen or heard the report about what the response was when a son living in Ukraine contacted his father in Russia about the war (if not, here a link to a video on CNN and a write up on the New York Times). So many people not only denying but actively arguing against the reality of things in Ukraine, and Mariupol in particular, are not only galling and infuriating, but really upsetting for Viktoria.

Prior to this news, the mood around here had definitely improved. Granted, still a lot to worry about, but things were seeming more positive. Viktoria was more in productive problem-solving mode — next steps for Katya 2 and Vanya — rather than doom-scrolling for hours on end. But with her “home” in Mariupol apparently destroyed, the cloud has fallen again.

It would be really nice if some of the gains seen by the Ukrainian forces around Kherson and Kyiv were also happening around Mariupol. So many news reports are saying that although the Russian objectives for those two locations have been stalled or stymied, they (the Russians) have managed to achieve most of their goals in the south. I hate that narrative, and I want to see everything the Russians have done in and to Ukraine since 2014 utterly undone. I want Viktoria to have her “home” back, and if we’re very lucky, some of her past will survive.