The Mariupol CIty Council Telegram channel still exists and does posts, though I’m sure the occupying forces would complain that it’s not the “real” (i.e., Russian-controlled) city council. That reason alone is probably a good reason to believe what gets posted, but since I’ve been watching the channel for the past 4 months as well, I know that the information that shows up there is good. In a recent post, it highlighted a recent presentation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at a meeting in Geneva. It’s somewhat gratifying to me to know that Mariupol is still on the minds of some people out there in the world.

Here are a couple articles about the report/presentation: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presents update on situation in Mariupol (ukrinform.net) and UN Human Rights Chief: ‘Tragedy of Mariupol Is Far From Over’ (voanews.com). But I think the city council post summarized it pretty well; here’s what they wrote:

‼️The deadliest place in Ukraine! The UN human rights report on Mariupol

“From February to the end of April, Mariupol was probably the deadliest place in Ukraine. The intensity and scale of the fighting, destruction, death and injury strongly indicate serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross violations of international law,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

Conclusions of the report:

• 1,348 civilians, including 70 children, have been confirmed dead in Mariupol. But the actual death toll is many times higher.
• Residents spent more than a month under siege: in basements without water, heat and medical care
• Damaged or destroyed up to 90% of high-rise buildings, as well as up to 60% of private
• All hospitals were damaged or destroyed.
• There was no water – people ran out to wells or open reservoirs, and on the way many died
• The city was bombarded with tanks and heavy artillery, used multiple launch rocket systems, rockets and air strikes.
• Many residents have not yet been buried.
• The evacuation of civilians in Mariupol was carried out within a month. 350,000 people left the city. They were ready to evacuate in any possible direction, but not everyone had the opportunity.
• The current situation in Mariupol is terrible. The WHO warns of the dangers of an outbreak of infectious diseases, in particular cholera.

Many of those bullet points have been mentioned here, so nice confirmation in that regard. Again, it’s good that what happened (and, to some degree, is still happening) to Mariupol hasn’t completely fallen off the world’s radar. Maybe there will actually be some consequences in the future.