Mariupol, razed: satellite photos showing the destruction in the city where more than 5,000 dead are estimated

The port city of Mariupol, which had a pre-war population of half a million inhabitants, has been one of the most heavily attacked Ukrainian towns by the Russian Army since it invaded the country on 14 February.

This industrial town, on the shores of the Sea of Azov, has been under siege for weeks by Russian troops, so the few remaining residents, some 160,000 according to the authorities, do not have access to basic goods such as drinking water and services such as gas or heating.

The before and after a Russian attack on the city shows the devastation:

On Wednesday, an official reported that a building of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was the target of Russian bombings in the city. “The occupiers deliberately bombed an ICRC building in Mariupol,” Lyudmila Denisova, responsible for human rights in the Ukrainian parliament, wrote on Telegram. “At the moment, we don't have any information about victims,” he added, without specifying how many people might have been in the building at the time of the bombing.

Russian forces continue the siege of Mariupol with constant and indiscriminate shelling that has left at least 5,000 people, according to the authorities, who estimate that the total number of deaths could rise to 10,000.

Volodymir Zelensky on Tuesday declared that the Russian attacks on Mariupol were “a crime against humanity”.

The bombing of the Mariupol Theatre, a port besieged by Russian forces, illustrates the difficulty for the media to report on the events taking place on land where access is almost impossible. It was the town hall of this Ukrainian port that first published on Telegram an image of the theater showing the central structure totally destroyed, and it was also the local authorities who said they feared that the bombing had left nearly 300 people dead, citing witnesses.

Two weeks after the bombing, the fate of hundreds of civilians who had taken refuge there is still unknown.

Aid organizations have repeatedly called for access to Mariupol, where living conditions are very difficult, and Ukrainian officials accuse Russian troops of forcibly deporting residents to Russia. The mayor's office of Mariupol on Wednesday denounced the forced evacuation to Russia of more than 70 people — women and medical personnel — from a maternity hospital.

In total, more than 20,000 inhabitants of Mariupol have been evacuated “against their will” to Russia, according to the municipality, which claims that the Russians confiscated their documents and redirected them “to remote Russian cities.”

According to the UN, two of the six civilian hospitals in Mariupol were destroyed and three were damaged, while the other centers continue to have limited activity and lack personnel and lack water, electricity and equipment. The bombing destroyed at least 65 buildings and damaged 126, according to the same source.

Some 160,000 civilians are still trapped in the battered and besieged Mariupol and are facing a “humanitarian catastrophe”, living in shelters without electricity and lack food and water, according to testimonies collected by AFP from those who fled that city.

“We buried our neighbors, we saw dead everywhere, and even my children saw it,” said Mariia Tsymmerman, who fled to Zaporiyia two weeks ago, but now she intends to return to carry supplies and help others get out.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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