Mariupol has become a symbol of the war in Ukraine’s brutality, resistance, and creeping Russian gains. The Ukrainian army held out in the Azovstal steelworks for weeks until Russian forces seized control of the city. Mariupol, a once-thriving port city of over 500,000 inhabitants, has been nearly reduced to ashes following weeks of shelling.
“A month was spent in the cellar. Each child had contracted an illness. They developed fevers and were throwing up. They were required to drink from springs. They were ill and terrified.”
During the siege, many inhabitants remained in the city and spent weeks hiding in cellars. When they resurfaced, the situation in Mariupol was so dire that some sought assistance from Russia, the nation that had blown them out of their homes.
For safety reasons, she did not wish to provide her real name or specific location. She was born and reared in Mariupol but left the city on June 1 to seek treatment for her epileptic eight-year-old son. Before departing, she lived in a basement for over a month.
“It was -10 degrees. We had no communications, no electricity, no water, no gas, and no water “She stated,
“There were numerous of us present. After a (Russian) grad missile struck our bedroom window on March 10, my son and daughter and I fled to the basement. Glass fragments were under our feet. We escaped milliseconds before everything caught fire.”
Natalia stated that, despite being driven from her home by Russian airstrikes, she would not use humanitarian corridors to exit the city because they were frequently attacked. She stated that the only remaining choice was to live underground.
As it became too dangerous for people to remain in their homes, the number of people living in the basement climbed rapidly.
As March gave way to April and the Russian soldiers drew closer, the battle increased.
“Initially, there were tank battles, followed by gunfire, and then airstrikes. I witnessed a fourteen-story building fall, leaving only two stories standing. At this time, Russian soldiers had entered the courtyard and were present.
“Then, a strike occurred, and the building caught fire. I realized that there was still someone inside and began to yell. A man hurried towards a woman and extended his hand, but she declined. Then, she was consumed and burned to death.”
Not even children were spared the horrors of the Mariupol onslaught.
“My children did not venture outdoors at all. They were terrified. They remained in the cellar even though there was sunshine outside and it was essentially “silent.”
Natalia told that adults and children attempted to remain warm in temperatures often well below zero by wrapping themselves in whatever garments and blankets they could rescue from surrounding apartments. There were no available medications, and many individuals were ill. To conserve supplies, food was rationed.
The basement’s residents, ranging from senior citizens to tiny children, were jammed together with little privacy, no toilets, and no running water. They occupied themselves during the long nights and days of darkness by singing songs and reading books by torchlight.
After spending more than a month underground, they emerged in a city they did not recognize.
The bombing had wrecked or hollowed-out buildings. The bent balconies shattered glass, and burn marks on apartments in the once-prosperous center of Mariupol served as a concrete reminder of the Russian scorched earth policy that reduced the city to a shell of its former self.
“When we exited, Russian soldiers were present. They “cleaned” the remaining apartments by visiting each of them. They were looking for Ukrainian troops “Natalia said.
The Kremlin asserts that Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” is intended to defend “peaceful citizens.” Volunteers and the Russian military are routinely depicted on Russian official television delivering boxes of humanitarian aid to Ukrainians in newly conquered regions. Some Russians claim that their companies have instructed them to give to the humanitarian effort.
People in Mariupol were given boxes bearing the Z symbol in the orange and black colors of the St. George’s ribbon, a Russian symbol that has become linked with the conflict in Ukraine.
Natalia informed that the words “We do not abandon our own” were put on the box.
In addition to flour, condensed milk, sugar, and pasta, the box also contained several canned foods and hygiene supplies. There was insufficient food to feed a family of three.
“They provided us with a single-person box. They stated that these are the rules. They instructed us to return in a week to obtain another box.
When asked how she felt about accepting aid from the government that had destroyed her home, Natalia responded in a soft voice, “It was terrible.”
“When you stand in a line of over a thousand people waiting for humanitarian aid, you eventually stop thinking about anything.
“People believe that all of us who remained in Mariupol are Ukrainian traitors because we received humanitarian aid. No one, however, considered the fact that we had nothing to feed our children.
She added, her voice shaking, “I felt the worst when they brought bread to our courtyard and my child stood in line for bread.”
“I did not cry throughout the entire conflict, but I did so afterward. I used to be able to provide everything for my children, but now I cannot even give them bread.”
Natalia told that having survived the shelling and fall of Mariupol to Russia, she had little alternative but to seek Russian assistance when her eight-year-old son with epilepsy fell unwell.
“He was unstable, had seizures, and there were no doctors left in Mariupol.
I was concerned about the safety of my child, so I wrote a letter to the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (a rebel region supported by Russia).”
Natalia stated she had to be “screened” to receive therapy for her baby. According to reports, Russian authorities utilize “filtration camps” to interrogate Ukrainians who remain or wish to flee Russian-occupied territory.
Natalia reported being interrogated in a camp of several tents guarded by armed Russian soldiers in a village outside Mariupol. She was escorted by four Russians who questioned her, obtained her personal information, and photographed her.
They inquired, “What do you think of the government?” and “Do you know anyone in the Ukrainian army?” Natalia stated that she had been told by those filtered before her to provide “neutral” responses that would not provoke more inquiries.
In the camp, residents of the city were required to surrender their cell phones. People whose phones had been reset to factory settings were detained for further questioning. After Natalia’s phone was returned to her, she reported receiving a message that her contact information had been downloaded externally – Russian forces were collecting the personal information of Ukrainians.
According to Natalia, everyone in Mariupol over the age of 18 who did not wish to leave the city was taken to the camp for questioning. Some were stripped as the Russians searched for tattoos, such as the Ukrainian flower, that could identify them as pro-Ukrainian.
After Natalia had been “filtered,” a piece of paper was given to her.
“When I inquired, ‘what is this,’ they said, ‘your ticket to a happy life!'”
Three days were required to travel from Mariupol to the Moscow region in a bus filled with ladies and children.
In a sanatorium in an undisclosed area not far from the Russian capital, Natalia reported that she had finally been able to provide her kid with the epilepsy-managing medicine he requires. What she has been unable to repair are the mental scars that months of conflict have left on him or her.
“He still has a fear of flying. He is eight years old yet acts like an adult.
“Our objective was survival. Nobody cared about individuals, children, or the elderly. People were currently being bombarded.”
Natalia, who was born in the Soviet Union and raised in Ukraine, stated that she will soon return to Mariupol to live under Russian rule.
She stated that it is something she does not do “want to think about seriously
“The 21st century should allow for communication. Two nations are accountable for the events in Mariupol. The city was bombed by the Russians. The Ukrainians took no action to evacuate the area.”
When Natalia returns to Mariupol, she will not reside in the apartment where she fed and assisted her children with their homework. This apartment, along with the majority of the city, was devastated by bombardment. She is aware that without heating, it will be impossible to remain once autumn and winter arrive. The city’s water supply has been severely damaged, and serious disease outbreaks are feared.
But for Natalia, who feels unloved and unwanted by everyone, Mariupol is the only place she desires to remain.
“I simply wish to reside in my city. I was born there, and so were my children. I am indifferent to the authority figures. I only wish to return home.”
