In Staryi Krym, outside Mariupol, the pain of burying the dead. Photo EFE
The remnants of the burned buildings stood in the rainy sky over Mariupol, Ukraine’s strategic city on the shores of the Sea of Azov, where the last defenders surrendered to the Russians. Consequently, the few passersby weep thinking of their future.
“What else can I expect? What can I say when a house is destroyed, when life is destroyed? “Asked Angela Kopytsa, 52.
Three months of fighting left an apocalyptic scene, an unknown number of dead and hundreds of thousands fled.
Before the bombing, the city had more than half a million inhabitants. Now the roads belong to Russia’s military and its separatist allies.
A tram destroyed by Russian attacks in the city of Mariupol. Photo EFE
The resistance
May 17, Russia ensured that more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in the besieged Azovstal steel mill, where they remained confined.
The industrial plant has become a symbol of fierce Ukrainian resistance, but on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry told Russian President Vladimir Putin. the “full liberation” of the city after the surrender of the last defenders.
Kopytsa burst into tears when she remembered that during the fight she had to share morsels of food with her children and grandchildren and that “children in maternity hospitals are starving.”
“What’s the future?”, ask in Russian. “I have no hope,” he said.
Russia has promised to rebuildr this southeastern city and make it a seaside resort. A difficult project to imagine in the rubble and buildings destroyed by the bombing.
Mariupol has more than half a million inhabitants. Now the roads belong to Russia’s military and its separatist allies. Photo EFE
AFP journalists traveled to Mariupol as part of a press trip organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. But the Russian military has not allowed the media to get close to the large steel works.
The relentless fighting has subsided in recent weeks and some residents have dared to go out in search of food. There has been no electricity in the city since March.
Elena Ilyina, who teaches at the University of Mariupol, said her apartment burned down and she now lives with her daughter. “I don’t have anything”, explanation of the weeping.
“I like to live in my flat, in times of peace, chatting with my kids,” this 55-year-old woman said. Her voice was sobbing.
Long live
During the visit, the Russian military also took journalists to a local zoo, where animals, including bears and lions, are kept in cages but look healthy.
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Source: Clarin
