Ukrainians who managed to flee tell the “hell” of Mariupol

Ukrainian families evacuated from the besieged city of Mariupol describe the “hell” they have left behind, the bodies that accumulate in the streets and the cold nights in the basements to protect themselves from bombs, with temperatures below freezing.

While Russian forces were bombing the city, they say they had to melt snow to drink water while food was scarce and there was no electricity supply.

“They fired so many rockets,” Tamara Kavunenko, 58, recalls in statements to AFP. He is one of the 4,300 inhabitants of Mariupol who escaped this week to Zaporiyia, in central Ukraine.

“When the snow came, we collected it and melted it for water. When not, we boil water from the river to drink it,” he says.

“In the streets are the bodies of many civilians killed,” he adds, before sentencing: “It is no longer Mariupol. It's hell.”

More than 2,000 people have died so far in the port city, a key strategic target for Moscow, according to Ukrainian authorities.

On Thursday, Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a theater where hundreds of civilians had taken refuge, even though the word “children” had been written on the front and back of the building, according to satellite images captured on March 14 by the private company Maxar.

- “Smell in the air” -

About 6,500 vehicles left the city in the last two days, Vadim Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, said in Telegram early Thursday.

In the midst of telecommunications blackouts, many of them escaped.

At a Soviet-era circus in Zaporiyia, a group of Red Cross volunteers are waiting for evacuees. Children's shoes and blankets cover the floor.

Dima, with black hands of dirt, tells AFP that he hasn't been cleaned in two weeks. On his third attempt, he arrived in Zaporiyia on Tuesday with his wife and two children, he explains to AFP.

To feed the children and their grandparents, she explains that she had to loot shops in search of food.

“We lived underground and if it was -4º it was a good temperature,” he says, as he lifts his leg to show that he is wearing three pants to get warm.

“Sometimes, there were bodies on the street for three days,” he recalls.

“The smell is in the air and you don't want your kids to smell it,” he adds.

Daria, who also fled Mariupol, said that for 10 days, she lived in the basement of her building with her baby.

“It got worse every day,” she says, while holding her daughter.

“We were without electricity, without water, without gas, without means to exist. It was impossible to buy things,” he adds.

- “Tired, sick, crying” -

Marina, a volunteer with the Zaporiyia Red Cross, said that the evacuees arrived in a very bad state.

“They were tired, sick, crying,” he said. The mall now offers them a roof and the possibility of bathing. “We take care of them,” he says. “Everything is ready for them,” he adds.

The only way to escape was with a private car. Many of those who arrived say that they could not leave the shelters because of the bombings and that they found a way to travel, luckily, since there was no telephone or internet signal either.

“We saw that there were people with white ribbons [in their cars] leaving,” said one woman, who introduced herself as Darya. He says he asked a neighbor if he could get together to run away.

For some, the journey to Zaporiyia, which usually takes about three or four hours, lasted more than a day.

A father of two children said he managed to pick up the signal after turning on the radio, so he had information about the humanitarian corridor.

While hugging his young son, Dmitry says that they spent “nine or 10 days” hiding in the Mariupol theater, the same one that was bombed according to Kiev by Russian forces.

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