Three weeks is how long Mariupol has been without electricity (and subsequently, heat) and water. It’s hard to know when the last supply trucks might have come, but that was probably about three weeks ago as well. Communications were still up for a few days after the electricity went, but it’s getting close to the three week mark for that as well. The war itself is getting close to one month.

The news for Mariupol has not been good for the past few days — not that it’s been good since Putin decided to “liberate” the city from vertical buildings and people. Russia added on-shore bombardment from ships in the Azov Sea. Some people who managed to escape the shelling in Mariupol and get to a nearby town, are still being subjected to the blocking of humanitarian aid by the Russians. So, they’re still in danger of starving to death. And apparently Zhenya got a message from some woman who used to live around Artem’s house. She said that she had seen Artem’s house with artillery damage, but that was days ago. (So, really nothing helpful.)

The city website had an interesting article that put together several of the smaller stories that have been happening into a more cohesive narrative. I’m not sure how much has been verified elsewhere, but it does largely fit with known and reported facts.

Specifically, I’d noted several days ago that Russia forces were looting the humanitarian aid that was being set to Mariupol. Apparently, the Russians have begun to distribute portions of that aid to citizens in occupied areas; it’s being used as PR about the “liberation” efforts of the Russian forces. The Russians also took evacuation buses that had been provided by Ukraine (and the big company, Metinvest, that owns/runs Azovstal), and said they were buses provided by Russia to evacuation people “to safety.”

That “safety” is apparently supposed to be Russia. I’d noted yesterday statements from the Mariupol government about people being taken from Mariupol — in some case, forcibly — to camps in Russia. I’m seeing the reports in several places, but almost all going back to the same source. I’d really like independent confirmation, but given all the other pieces, this involuntary resettlement seems entirely likely. From the article:

“Mariupol resident O. told 0629 [the city website] that his relative was thus taken to the Rostov region. She lived in a left-bank area. It is now almost completely cut off from the rest of the city. The woman saw the buses, grabbed her belongings and left. It’s good that she had money, she’s not a poor person. In Rostov, she took a bus to Moscow, and there – on a plane to Istanbul. The woman is now in Europe. But not everyone succeeds in this way. Some Mariupol residents are sent to the northern regions of Russia. What is happening to them now is not yet known.“

Forced relocation was also done by the Nazis in WWII. In Putin’s warped world view, it would seem that using Nazi tactics to depopulate a city is what “de-Nazification” really means.

The full article is really worth a read. It’s in Ukrainian and will need to be translated, but definitely worth it.