Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol, the City Is Turning into a Desert, It Is Constantly on the Brink of a Humanitarian Catastrophe

The destroyed city of Mariupol is a clear proof of what Putin has turned into other occupied territories of Ukraine According to Petros Andriushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, of the half a million people who lived in the city, up to one hundred thousand remain in the city, but the invaders do not allow them to maintain official relations.

The only mission that enters the city is the international Red Cross, but according to Mr Andriushchenko, it is a completely compromised institution that is more appeasing to the occupiers than helping the local population.

All exits and entrances from the city are closed, there is no possibility to move to the territory controlled by Ukraine And residents who do not obey the regime are accused of terrorism and killed.

Interview with Mariupol City Mayor Petros Andriuschenka - on the lrt radio program "Lietuvos diena" - It will soon be a year since the start of the war.

Mr Andriushchenko, what is the situation today in Mariupol, which was occupied back in April? What does the city itself look like? - The city has turned into real ruins, it is completely destroyed.

The Russian occupation authorities have not only ravaged the city due to military action, but are now massively demolishing buildings and structures, turning the city into a desert, as more than 70 percent of the population has been affected by the occupation, shelling and bombing apartment buildings.

These are nine, five-story buildings Indeed, a construction desert opens up in every center of the administrative district.

In addition, the city is constantly on the verge of a humanitarian disaster, as it is now winter and there are serious problems with heating More than 40 percent residents of occupied Mariupol do not have heating.

They are forced to warm themselves with anything, including homemade stoves There are also big problems with infrastructure.

People are once again mostly dependent on humanitarian aid, so the situation remains very difficult, life is unbearable and the occupation regime is very brutal - Half a million people lived in Mariupol before the war.

To your knowledge, how many are left today? - Currently, 90,000 people live in the city up to 100 thousand people, of which about 65 thousand are of retirement age, and about 13 thousand - children.

- Mr Andriushchenko, how do those 100,000 people live in the city? people, when everything around is destroyed and burned? - Few houses survived, almost no house was left that was not affected by shells and shelling.

Therefore, many still live without windows or with holes in the walls There are very few houses left.

If we look at the urban area, the suburbs were the least affected Basically, people live there.

All historical, the administrative center is almost destroyed, so the city, as it was before the war, is simply gone Now it is more reminiscent of individual local settlements in each district, which are basically only connected by historical memory to the neighboring district.

- Is this Mariupol winter very cold? - Although now it's winter, fortunately, it's not very cold The temperature is negative, but it almost never drops below five degrees of frost, it usually stays around zero.

Mariupol is not very cold this winter, but like every seaside town, the winter winds are a terrible thing, they are cold and really make things difficult But at least it wasn't very cold - 15, 20 degrees.

At Least That Makes It A Little Easier - Mr

Andriushchenko, what kind of relationship do you maintain with the rest of the residents of Mariupol? the entire city hall? Is any connection at all possible with the rest of the people there? - Unofficially, of course, we keep in touch with many people in Mariupol Therefore, we always know what is happening there.

We are trying to somehow influence the situation Unfortunately, this is difficult, because for the Russians there are no relevant international humanitarian institutions, there is no international pressure.

The only thing that works strangely and forces them to do something is the echoes in the Ukrainian and international media This is our form of communication.

We are telling the truth, it causes a resonance, and in order to quell it, the occupying power begins to do something Of course, there is no other communication between us and there is no official communication with the occupied residents of Mariupol, because it is not safe for people.

If someone is found to be in contact with us, they will face arrest, Russian prison for aiding and abetting Ukrainian authorities Thus, all our communication with the residents of Mariupol is more like a real spy novel than the usual communication between the city authorities and the residents.

- Mr Andriushchenko, who delivers food to the city's residents? Only the Russian side? - Yes, only the Russian side.

It does not admit representatives of Ukraine or humanitarian missions The only mission that enters the city is the international Red Cross.

This is a separate story of the strange relationship of the Red Cross with the occupiers and representatives of Ukraine From our point of view, this is a completely compromised institution that caters more to the occupiers than helps the people.

- To your knowledge, would the residents of Mariupol want to leave their unheated houses? Finally, do you have this opportunity, because maybe the occupiers don't let them do that? - Our residents cannot directly enter the territory controlled by Ukraine All exits and entrances are closed.

They can evacuate only through Russian territory Since autumn, the Russian authorities have been obstructing border crossings, for example between Russia and the Baltic states, and have even set up filtering camps.

Mariupol residents are being tried in every possible way not to be released from Russia Therefore, it is really very difficult to leave the Russian occupation to civilized countries.

This is the first reason The second reason is that mostly those whose houses and property have survived remained in the city, but the Russian authorities and the Russian citizens brought by them, who are engaged in construction and improvement of the occupiers' household, are complete marauders.

If you leave your apartment for a week and others find out, after a week nothing will be left of your apartment and everything in it Therefore, people are afraid of losing their last remaining possessions and, unfortunately, do not leave.

Today, this is the main reason - If we talk about the famous Mariupol Drama Theater, we have seen videos that the building has already been razed to the ground.

- Practically so Now they are finishing dismantling it.

Only one front wall of the Drama Theater will be left The Russians have already removed almost all the consequences, all the evidence of the bombing of the Drama Theater by Russian pilots.

- What do you know about the fate of the Azovstal steel plant? - Everything is being cut from the former Azovstal factory Everything is being cut, taken to the territory of Russia and further exported, because, unfortunately, scrap metal is still not subject to sanctions.

- Mr Andriushchenko, and the filtering camps still exist in Mariupol and other occupied areas? - Working filtering points People are still being filtered unfortunately not everyone manages to pass it.

Unfortunately, filtering prisons are still operating in the Donetsk region There are no longer such filtering camps as there were in the summer, but the situation has not improved and the regime has not become more lenient, it has simply changed.

- If not all the population passes the filtering, as you say, what happens to those people? - If the person has not passed the filtration, he is arrested The court of the formally so-called Donetsk People's Republic recognizes him as a terrorist, sentences him to 15 years in prison, and he effectively disappears into Russian prisons.

Today, it can be said that there are at least 10,000 people in such prisons from Mariupol - arrested and disappeared during filtering.

Unfortunately, we do not have the surnames, because the Russian representatives are hiding them In the camps, the same thing happens with our prisoners of war, they are sometimes kept together - it is torture, translation to cooperate.

This Is Horrible It's Shootings

This is a real concentration camp They also existed in Nazi Germany, the only difference is that the Russians have not yet built gas chambers.

- The Crimean peninsula, which is temporarily occupied by Putin, is quite close to the city of Mariupol What movement takes place on the Kerch Bridge? - As far as we know, now there is almost no traffic on the Crimean bridge.

They use the land corridor from Rostov-on-Don through Mariupol to Crimea It is used by both civilians and many military personnel.

In fact, the Crimean bridge does not work, it only works according to Russian propaganda Therefore, huge traffic flows pass through Mariupol, we all see it.

- Mr Andriushchenko, do many military vehicles pass that way? - Yes.

A lot of technology Part moves towards Mariupol, part of the military columns – towards Melitopol, and part of the military convoys - to the north of the occupied Donetsk region.

There are a lot of them These are columns of 50, 70 units of various techniques.

In recent days, the flow has decreased slightly They transport everything: tanks, Grad missile systems, anti-aircraft defense systems in large quantities.

- Ukrainian forces do not yet reach these routes of Russian movement? they have to suffer even as far as Mariupol So the occupying vehicles are decreasing, and the liberation of the city is getting closer.

- Mr Andriushchenko, now that Ukraine is getting advanced heavy tanks, maybe there is more faith that it will be possible to expel the invaders faster? - Of course.

It's not even a matter of faith Our faith does not diminish and has never wavered that we will expel the occupiers.

We are very grateful to all allies for such a huge support with tanks It is also important to us because everything will go faster, and most importantly, it will help save the lives of our soldiers and civilians who are being destroyed by the occupiers.

Therefore, it is really very important for us The more weapons we have with which we can respond properly, the sooner the war will end, the sooner we will win, and the sooner the whole world can breathe a sigh of relief with us.

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