The Mariupol city council warned on Wednesday that “strong and deadly epidemics could soon break out in the city” as conditions become increasingly unhealthy with each passing day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a Telegram post, officials said some 100,000 people in Mariupol were “in mortal danger not only because of the bombings but also because of the unbearable living conditions and unhealthy conditions” – citing diseases such as cholera, dysentery and coli.
“The occupiers are not able to provide the existing population with food, water and medicine. Or they are simply not interested in it,” Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boichenko said on Thursday. “They are blocking all evacuation efforts. And without it, people will die. ”
A truck passes in front of a theater damaged during fighting in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday (April 27th).
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The Donetsk regional governor also claimed on Thursday that Russia was not allowing the wounded Ukrainian fighters to leave the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol because it wanted to seize them, Reuters reported.
“They [want to] use the opportunity to capture the defenders of Mariupol, one of the main ones [elements] “of which is the … Azov constitution”, Pavlo Kirilenko is said to have said.
A damaged tank and a damaged apartment building are seen in an area controlled by the Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 26.
“Therefore, the Russian side does not agree to any measures to evacuate the wounded [Ukrainian] troops, “he added.
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Local women gather at the entrance of a damaged apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 26.
The developments come as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres – who pushed for safe evacuations this week in Mariupol – meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is in its 64th day.
