Before the war, 450,000 people lived in Mariupol, it was a prosperous city with great prospects. During the months of the war, the city was razed to the ground, but there are still about a hundred thousand inhabitants.
Since the beginning of the war, Mariupol has been the hottest spot. After the evacuation of Ukrainian defenders from the Azovstal plant, which was called the last citadel, Mariupol got under Russian control. It is no longer possible to find out the exact number of dead residents of Mariupol, because the invaders massively burn or take out the bodies of civilians, hiding the vestiges of their crimes. Assumptions of about 20 thousand dead civilians have been put forward. 95% of the housing stock is damaged or completely destroyed.
In the first days of the invasion, the strikes were carried out mainly on the military infrastructure of Mariupol, but then the shelling became more regular and more chaotic as the Russian troops approached the border of the city. Russian bombs and artillery targeted critical civilian infrastructure: electrical substations, heating networks, hospitals, maternity hospitals and schools. The routes for the delivery of food and humanitarian aid and the evacuation of people were blocked. Within a week of the offensive, the city found itself in a state of humanitarian catastrophe, and people began to live in the conditions of the "Stone Age".
The battles for Mariupol have had unprecedented disastrous consequences, and locals even compare Mariupol to besieged Leningrad or Aleppo. The defense of Mariupol lasted 3 months and 6 days.
In May, directed by Elizaveta Tatarinova, a documentary about Mariupol was released called “Chronicles of hell”, whose title itself already testifies to many things.
The price of bread
In Ukraine, many people know cases when grandparents who went through World War II instilled respect and reverence for food in their children and grandchildren, saying that bread comes at a high price. It was difficult for the younger generation, who grew up in conditions of prosperity, to understand such frugality of the elders, but now everything is different. The children who’ve been through Mariupol will forever keep their experiences in their memory.
During a psychologist's consultation with children from Mariupol, she offered them water and cookies. A boy immediately asked, “Do I need to share with someone…? Can I drink a whole glass of water? The consultation ended up in the children trying to calm down the psychologist, because she couldn’t hold back tears.
According to numerous testimonies of those who managed to get out, people in Mariupol literally had to filter water from puddles and hunt pigeons. Everything was used to kindle fires in the yards: trees felled by explosions, wooden window frames, furniture from the residents' apartments. People who could not keep themselves warm froze to death in cold apartments. It is impossible to even imagine the horrors and unbearable suffering that the residents of Mariupol went through. Hundreds and thousands of families were divided, a great many children lost their parents.
Access to Mariupol itself is blocked, so it is impossible to deliver aid there, but the AMBCU humanitarian center in Zaporozhye continues to receive Mariupol residents who were lucky enough to leave. Refugees are given food, hygiene kits, necessary medicines, and counseling support. Zaporozhye has become a safe haven for thousands of immigrants from Mariupol fleeing the war.
Not collaborationism
In the local information channel of Mariupol, the Ukrainian authorities gave informal advice to those residents who remained under occupation:
• Don't refuse humanitarian aid and any payments because these are costs on the part of the enemy;
• If you are forced to work, but this work will improve the life of Mariupol, do it. You work for the people of Mariupol, not for the occupiers;
• If you are settled in someone else's housing, move in. After the de-occupation, the owners will return, and you will keep their property for them and you yourself will have a shelter.
People are not allowed out of the city, but forced to work for drinking water. This is reminiscent of the story of Joseph's enslavement in Egypt, when he stayed with God no matter what and put his talents to good use in his new home. God was with Joseph and blessed him because Joseph was with God.
Feast in Time of Plague
On the streets of the city, there are still hundreds of bodies of those killed, who were given numbers instead of names. Despite the devastation, the threat of a sanitary catastrophe and possible spread of the plague, the occupying authorities, using the forces of Maruipol residents, are trying to organize a picture of a good life in the city: wreckages are being removed, infrastructure is being repaired, and the educational process in schools is being resumed with the new Russian educational program.
Church in Andriivka
The village of Andriivka is located near the occupied Mariupol and Berdyansk and also came under the control of the occupation authorities. There is one of the Mennonite churches in the village, the connection with which was lost at the beginning of the war, and the site of the village council stopped being updated on February 24.
We pray for peace in Ukraine
The AMBCU churches continue to pray intensely for the residents of the temporarily occupied territories, hoping for the triumph of peace in Ukraine and the restoration of its territorial integrity. Despite the aggravation of the crisis in the country, the Association continues to work and serve the people of Ukraine and bring light to the dark corners of Ukraine
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