Ukraine war: the atrocities unfolding out of sight
War is not an adventure, wrote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, it is a disease. Wars do not just kill and maim people; they infect and disrupt entire ways of life. And so it is proving in Ukraine, said Nana Poku in The Daily Telegraph.
It is only a month since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion, but already there are reports that at least ten hospitals have been completely destroyed, along with so much other critical infrastructure. Supply chains have been disrupted, leading to widespread shortages of basic necessities. In the countryside, farmers are running out of feed for their livestock, fertiliser for their crops and fuel for their machinery. And in villages, towns and cities, the destruction continues, forcing millions to flee their homes and creating a level of injury and trauma that could affect the country for decades.
Mariupol now ‘a city of ghosts’
Nowhere has been as hard hit as Mariupol, said Guy Chazan in the FT. After three weeks of relentless Russian bombardment, this important port is a “charnel house, a city of ghosts”. Residents say that 80% of buildings are bombed out, uninhabitable; and online, there are images of the smoking ruins of apartment blocks, blackened trees, and cars reduced to mangled heaps. “Strategically located on the Sea of Azov, the gateway to the Black Sea, Mariupol was in Russia’s cross hairs from the start.”
Within days, missile strikes had cut off water, electricity and gas, leaving people cowering in basements, cooking on campfires made from broken furniture and melting snow to drink. Some became so desperate that they drained the water out of radiators. Civilians evacuated from the city last week described “post-apocalyptic scenes” in which stray dogs fed on the corpses that lay uncollected on the streets.
The authorities say that at least 2,400 civilians have died in Mariupol; the true figure may be far higher, and with many bodies hastily buried in mass graves during brief interludes between bombardments, many of the dead may never be identified.
Cut off from outside world
There’s a lot we don’t know about events in Mariupol, because the Russians didn’t just knock out water and power. They also cut the city off from the outside world by destroying its phone, radio and television towers. The immediate aim was to spread chaos and panic, the reporter Mstyslav Chernov told AP News. “Impunity was the second goal. With no information coming out of the city, no pictures of demolished buildings and dying children, the Russian forces could do whatever they wanted.”
Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/russia/956221/ukraine-war-the-atrocities-unfolding-out-of-sight