Some of the people who have made it out of Mariupol described their experiences on the city website, here. I was struck by one woman’s description of living in basement/bomb shelter. (Translation via Google, with a little light editing for clarity.)

“I still can’t understand how people can worry about such nonsense, like having an old phone or not enough salary. Not a single hryvnia was useful to me in our basement. And the phone died the day after the lights went out. My little nephews slept dressed. Not only because it was hellishly cold, but also because if a bomb falls while we are sleeping and we survive, it is better to get out from under the rubble in shoes and jackets.

“You know, after ten days of constant shelling, I began to feel it beginning. I had a disgusting emptiness in my chest and not enough air. I was lying on two chairs, in a compartment with gray, icy walls. Above me and below me were the pipes, next to the boards and mattresses were my family with white-haired little nephews, my friend’s family, and Angie’s dog, whom we dragged and pulled out of the basement by force. She categorically did not want to walk in the yard covered with ashes and glass, not a minute.

“Walking a dog was hell. Because they bombed incessantly. I opened the front door a little, pushed the dog out, and watched frightened as she first ran down the steps, trying to find a place among the fragments on the scorched earth, then her ears flattened, and a nearby mine disgustingly squeaked and exploded, and she ran back. We waited a minute and started anew. I stood in the doorway and cried. I was very scared. Angie was also very scared, but she didn’t cry; she looked at me from below with brown eyes. She could not understand what was happening.

“Our basement consisted of many compartments. Many had people. In one, even very tiny children. Next to us was a family – an adult son and his elderly mother. They were very calm and reserved, treated our children to sweets and cookies, gave us butter and lard because they were going to leave. Our children were so scared that they ate almost nothing. But the candies and cookies were swallowed right away. It was a real treasure and a little joy in the gloomy dungeon buzzing with explosions. They even had fun.

“Seven-year-old Varya asked me to tell about Peppa Pig for the first time since the beginning of the war, and she even believed me when I promised to buy her any doll as soon as we came out of the basement. Malyavka only clarified: ‘The shops were all robbed, how can you buy?’ I replied that no toy store was touched and all the dolls were in place.

“I looked at her round face, tangled hair, small nose, scarf-wrapped neck, and thought, ‘Suddenly I’m lying to her?’ I kissed her cheeks and dirty palms, and my heart ached. I wasn’t sure we would survive tonight. Varyusha (Varya) demanded and clarified: ‘Really, you will buy it? When?’

“Her brother Kirill hardly spoke to us. He was very scared when we were in a different basement in a private house and there was a direct hit on the roof. The roof caught fire and everyone had to leave. We ran to the garage under terrible fire. Everything around howled and exploded, and Kiryukha (Kirill) shouted, covering the mines: ‘Mommy, please, mommy! I want to live! I don’t want to die!’

“Please, all who can tell about Mariupol to the whole world. Mariupol residents are being killed. Hundreds of children were in the basements with my nephews. Many are still sitting there. They want to live. They are very scared.”

The other survivor stories in the article are worth a read as well. (Try this link for an automatic translation of the article page. If it doesn’t work, you can always copy and paste text to Google Translate.)

There is plenty of news being reported about Ukraine — and rightfully so — but it’s not always the news one needs or wants. I do my best to stay up on everything but as my posts have reflected, my focus increasingly has been directed to the events of Mariupol. Very understandable. But I’m a piker compared to Viktoria.

Unfortunately, she’s not getting all the news she really wants. The information she wants falls into to basic categories: family and friends, and the status of those parts of Mariupol that she knows best. From the first days of the war, news about or from Mariupol has been scarce, almost an afterthought. Sure, far more people have heard of “Kyiv,” but Mariupol has been on the front lines for years and was the most likely place to see combat from the start. Apparently that makes it a big snooze in news-terms.

In the absence of any significant coverage about Mariupol — and because there’s been a nearly half-million people trapped there without supplies, water, electricity or communication for over 2 weeks — assorted local information sources have been popping up on various social media platforms — Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Viber, etc. Some of these have been useful, some have been scams.

Since some people have been able to get out of the city, one of the biggest new channels has been information about the people who have escaped and who has not. Through one such source, Zhenya was able to get in touch with someone who had information about his apartment block and the people there. Some good news in that regard: everyone is alive and hanging in there (as of 2-3 days ago). Hungry, cold and scared, but alive. The building itself has taken some damage and principal fighting has been only yards away. Unfortunately, there’s been no news on Viktoria’s grandson Artem; he was with his family on the eastern side of the city, not at the apartment block in the middle of town.

All this information has been welcome and appreciated, but it hasn’t been enough for Viktoria. It’s been a rather frantic couple of days, with her calling every possible number that shows up on those social media channels. She wants to know about who has escaped, what the status of things are at the building, and particularly about her grandson. Usually she seems to forget about the time zone difference, and tries calling in the middle of (their) nights, only to be frustrated when there’s no answer. She monitors these channels for any information, and does what she can to provide answers and ask new questions. It’s getting to be almost a mania for her, and depending the news she sees, she can change from determined and hopeful one moment, to depressed and fatalistic the next.

As with all things, it’s the lack of knowing that’s the worst. She gets some information, but it’s not enough and it hasn’t been what she wants to hear: that her family and friends are safe. If she gets that news, then I think she’ll be able to ride out the rest.

I mentioned in a previous post how proud Mariupol was about the mosque that was built in their city. There are, of course, a few other sites that the citizens are equally proud of, or that are emblems of the city. Russians bombed two of those today.

The first was the opera house (“drama theater”). Every large-ish city has one (so far as I know), and they are usually pretty spectacular, at least from the outside. (I’ve never been in one; though I have attended a musical in Kyiv, I don’t think it was at their “official” drama theater.) Here’s a old photo I have of the Mariupol opera house:

So of course the Russians decided to drop a bomb on it. This was a gathering and shelter point for citizens during the war. The basement was being used as a bomb shelter, and apparently the rubble of the build blocked that off. I haven’t read that it’s been unblocked or how many people might have been down there. (Here’s another story on it, but no more information.)

The drama theater was the heart of downtown and the main public square for the city. The yearly holiday tree and display was there. In the winter, there was a public ice skating ring, built around a fountain that, in the summer, had light and music displays. The area around is like a big park, with trees and walkways and benches. Concessions and kids rides were set up there for most of the year. (It’s where I got yelled at by an old man asking for a handout. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but he was loud and agitated.)

The other notable location destroyed yesterday was a public swimming pool and sports complex. I hadn’t visited it, but I knew about it; I may have been by it, but I’m not sure. (There’s also a newer arena in Mariupol that I have been to.) As a larger, public building, it too was being used for as a bomb shelter. I haven’t seen any numbers about casualties.

The attack on these two places had no military value, these were just important places to the people of Mariupol. Russia is trying to wipe Mariupol off the map, destroying not only the people but their spirit as well.

I know that logical consistency is not a strong point for right-wing authoritarians, but if Putin truly believes that there is no such thing as “Ukraine” — and by extension, Ukrainians — then he is killing Russians. What sort of leader murders his own people? Tyrants and despots and pathetic, weak men.

CNN has the story too, here and here.

One more.

Wow, even more evil than you could imagine. The city had indicated that the drama theater had children inside by writing the word “children” — visible by satellite — at the front and back of the building.

A summary of the situation from CNN: “Mariupol is now just hell”: What to know about the deteriorating situation in the Ukrainian city (cnn.com).

More on Mariupol: Mariupol: Survivors and drone footage reveal the scale of destruction – CNN

A little video of the cars leaving Mariupol, somewhere on the road. As you can see at the end, it’s still not a safe passage. The fire in the distance just adds to the hellscape. (By the way, I can’t specifically confirm that this is true video from the past day or two, but the video is from Suspilne Media, which has seemed to be pretty legit.)

UPDATE: I found the page on Suspilne where the above video was embedded: “In Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian military fired on a convoy of civilians evacuating from Mariupol. It is known about 5 wounded, one child in critical condition. The child is operated on with the remote involvement of Okhmatdyt doctors. A fire broke out in the field along the road due to shelling. Video: Zaporizhia Regional Administration.”

The convoy of humanitarian aid remains stuck in Berdyansk, unable to finish the trip to Mariupol because of shelling and mines along the agreed transit corridor. However, yesterday about 150 cars (only around 300 people) were able to successfully travel from Mariupol to Zaporozhia. It took them 11 hours, because of checkpoints and searches and having to wait until shelling stopped and finding ways around the mined parts of the road. But they made it.

Today another 2000 cars started that journey, with more waiting to try tomorrow. No word yet on how successful today’s group has been. But the numbers of people getting out barely make a dent on the numbers still trapped in the city.

Russians took over a large regional hospital, not only taking the staff and patients hostage, but herding an additional 400 people from the surrounding neighborhood into the hospital as well. Because human shields are more effective when you’ve got a lot of them. This hospital served not only Mariupol and the surrounding parts of Ukraine, but also parts of Russia. It also not that far from the apartment Viktoria lived in and later owned for a good deal of her adult life. Now it’s likely to become another kill box.

Some information outlets have coined and started using a new term: Russcists. A combination of Russian and fascist. I read it described as being a necessary new term, because “fascist” simple doesn’t adequately cover the evil and callous indifference to human life that the Russian forces have shown. It’s a flavor of fascism all their own.

More needs to be done to save Mariupol. Russians are making a conscious choice to destroy the city, by preventing humanitarian aid from getting in and by taking hostages and human shields. I would not be at all surprised if allowing a few cars to leave isn’t some plan to help lull people into a false sense of security. But I understand the reasons for people wanting to try: die trying to get to safety, or die from starvation or dehydration or freezing temperatures in a Mariupol basement?

Even if this escape corridor is legit and manages to stay open, it still requires people to have a car and gasoline. That leaves a lot of people out, which is why those buses of supplies and transportation need to get in.

Apparently the convoy that left Zaporozhia yesterday bound for Mariupol got as far as Berdyansk — which is decidedly not the direct route. But I guess it’s still trying to get through. Berdyansk is not that far from Mariupol, but shelling today forced them to return to Berdyansk. I read that they’ll try again tomorrow.

It’s getting to the point where it may be too late for any real help. Even if the convoy does make it to Mariupol, the food water and supplies will certainly help (if it can be distributed throughout the city). But the plan was for those buses to evacuate people back to Zaporozhia, and given all the trouble getting in to Mariupol, I can’t imagine it will be any easier trying to leave.

Drones have been highly effective in striking back at the Russian forces in other parts of the country. Can’t they send any to Mariupol? Of course, they should have been sent a week ago, and probably could have made a dent in those batteries shelling the city as well as working to clear an evacuation corridor. If the US and NATO agreed today to help “close the sky” over Ukraine, I don’t think it would come quickly enough to help Mariupol. A few drone strikes might be more feasible.

I’m going to paste the content of this posting from CNN; it says it all: “Resident of Mariupol paints grim picture of situation: ‘This is horror'” —

A resident of the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine has recorded a video diary of the desperate situation in the city.

The video was recorded Sunday morning on deserted streets and posted to Twitter. It also shows looted shops and people trying to cook outdoors in sub-zero temperatures.

Nearly 2,200 people have been killed in the bombardment of the city. Repeated efforts to get humanitarian aid into the city have so far failed.

Here is what the resident said:

"The town of Mariupol, March 13. The 18th day of the war. The town is besieged…

"There’s no humanitarian aid and will not be. The evacuation of peaceful people is impossible. People are in a devastating situation. Water, food are coming to an end, people are forced to break into shops, in search for necessities, including logs - it’s minus 7 right now. And here’s what we see in every shop.

"Russian military vehicles and also from DNR [the Russian-backed Peoples Republic of Donetsk] are not ashamed of air strikes, the town is under air strikes, and shelling from grads and mortars…

"There are thousands of victims among peaceful civilians … in all parts of the city! I've been on the left side, now I am in Illicha [a district of Mariupol] … It’s like a meat grinder here.

"We feel bitterness, desperation — this land has been soaked with this…

"Russians came here under a reasonable, in their view, proposition, but they sowed despair fear, bitterness … they have taken away our peace … They are killing us … That’s what’s happening … The town has no electricity for 13 days, no heating, water … And the world doesn’t know what’s happening here…

"This is horror … Here’s our good morning…"

Today’s been a really hard day for Viktoria — not that any day of the past two weeks has been particularly easy. This morning she was getting pictures and videos of Mariupol, including some taken very near to Zhenya’s apartment. One picture showed damage and burned out cars in the courtyard area of the apartment block; another was from across the main street, toward where her friend Olga lives. These are places near and dear to her, and seeing the destruction was difficult. (These are places I’ve seen or been to as well.) Then she learned that the pictures were actually from two days ago, and that just made things worse. I mean, if two days ago it was hell and nothing since has improved, what does that make today?

No humanitarian assistance today either. Not only did the convoy get attacked, when it wasn’t being attacked, it was being stopped and looted by those doing the attacking. I don’t know that there’s a depth to the evil and depravity these people can show.

Here are some assorted news articles for the day:

• Invaders plunder Mariupol-bound humanitarian convoy (ukrinform.net) – as I was saying
• Enemy aircraft bomb Sviatohirsk Lavra in Donetsk region (ukrinform.net) – This is the equivalent of bombing a cathedral, and there were civilians sheltering inside. Viktoria wanted us to take a vacation here sometime.
• At night in Mariupol, the Russian aggressor shelled Primorsky Park and a mosque where Turkish students are hiding (0629.com.ua) – in Ukrainian. The people of Mariupol loved this mosque; they were really proud when it was built. And it is very beautiful. Viktoria and I had our first meeting here.
• Horrific footage of Mariupol shelling from Russian tanks has circled the world – VIDEO 18+ (0629.com.ua) – in Ukrainian, but it’s the video you need to see. More proof of Russian war crimes. Tanks and the streets of Mariupol, firing at residential housing.
• Mariupol is in a “disaster phase now,” Doctors Without Borders emergency coordinator says (cnn.com)
• Humanitarian convoy heads for Mariupol (cnn.com)
• I can’t find it now, but I read something this morning that said the town of Volnovakha was essentially gone. Blasted to smithereens and overrun by the Russians. Katya 2’s father and grandmother were last reported in Volnovakha, and because communications have been done for over a week, their situation is not known.

UPDATE: 8:43 p.m. PST

Yesterday, and somewhat the day before, there was a lot of news about Mariupol. Not only was the bombing of the maternity hospital covered, but so was the general situation. You know — the situation where a city of 400,000 people is being strangled and killed before the world’s eyes? That. All over the news — or at least getting mentioned, with humanitarian corridors being shelled and people not being able to escape the city — but today there’s be virtually nothing.

There was an announcement late last night about corridors again being agreed to for the various besieged cities, and I saw a bullet point somewhere about a supply convoy leaving Zaporozhia again today. Then nothing. The only follow up I’ve seen to any of that was a comment on CNN about Mariupol being “under ‘increasing pressure.'” Well, duh.

Did any sort of evacuation happen today? Was there shelling along the announced corridor? Did any of the convoy trucks get through? Sure, the answer is probably no, but I’d rather have confirmation of that instead of just making assumptions. I know it’s not that things magically got better and there’s nothing to report. Disasters don’t just go away when you stop looking that them; that’s usually when the worst disaster will happen.

I said it on my “Just Once” post, but I’ll say it again: Just once, I would really love to hear good, positive news about the situation in Mariupol. How about, “Ukrainian Army Secures Humanitarian Route to Mariupol?” How about, “Artillery Bombarding Mariupol Destroyed by Precision Attacks?” How about anything that would give people hope about the situation in Viktoria’s hometown?

Don’t just disappear the city. The people trying to survive there deserve better.

A nice video of what Mariupol looked like before the war (from https://fb.watch/bGexVAzfqS/). The public square with the fountain and light show (starting about 17 seconds in) is about 1000 feet from Zhenya’s apartment. It’s fairly new construction, and there have been a number of events held there in the past couple years.

There is, unfortunately, nothing new to report. Mariupol is still blocked, with Russians agreeing to and then shooting on the humanitarian corridor they agreed to. They violate the cease-fire on a whim. Are they doing this for fun? Is it some twisted game for them? It’s like Lucy and the football — set things up and then yank it all away. Only in this scenario, people end up dying.

Lavrov is a POS and has been for a long time. He stated outright that nothing was going to be accomplished at the summit he and Ukraine had today in Turkey. Of course, he stated it after the fact, just so everyone could waste their time for no purpose. And he again repeated the Russian position that they’d targeted the maternity hospital deliberately because it was really a Ukrainian army post. Sure, he too saw the images taken directly after the attack of the bloodied women and doctors, but who are you going to believe — him, or your lying eyes?

Update: It seems the Russians are having trouble keeping their stories straight. Apparently, they are responsible for it, because they were acting on superior intelligence against those evil and cunning Ukrainians who would use a hospital as cover, but they also want the world to know that it was all a staged event by the Ukrainians, who attacked their own hospital and patients to make the Russians look bad.

Also, Viktoria got word that her sister has shown up at the apartment block. No word on where she had been for the past week or so.