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miraculers-for-ukraine · 2 years

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Special Call To Action: Day 80 of the Invasion

May 15th marks 80 days since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In our Special Calls to action on Day 40 (Bucha and Irpin) and Day 60 (Eastern Ukraine and Peace Talks), we covered some of the key events from the invasion so far; the aim of this post is to provide an update on what we mentioned before and introduce anything new.

Heavy trigger-warnings for war-associated atrocities, especially for the picture in the BBC source.

What happened at Azovstal and Bilohorivka

In our last update, we mentioned that the Russian government was targeting the Azovstal steel plant near Mariupol, where both civilians (500) and military (1,000) have been under siege. Since then, all of the civilians have been evacuated, with Ukraine currently in the process of negotiating the evacuation of wounded fighters and medics. Russian troops continue to storm the complex and the Ukrainian military there have said that they will not be surrendering.

In the meantime, bombings in Eastern Ukraine continue, with a recent hit in a school in Bilohorivka, Luhansk region, killing an alleged 60 people of the 90 hiding there (final figures can only be confirmed after the rubble has been cleared, but only 30 people were saved from the rubble).

Omar Abdi, UNICEF’s deputy chief, additionally called the war a "child rights crisis", citing nearly 100 deaths in just the past month (as of 13/05), the difficulties experienced by the surviving refugees, and the amount of schools hit by heavy artillery. There is also the matter of reports of up to 1.2 million people, among which 210,000 children, having been deported to Russia since the start of the invasion as claimed by Ukraine’s Human rights ombudsman (figures unconfirmed, vary from source to source).

Read more about the Azovstal evacuation in Al Jazeera

Read more about the bombing in Bilohorivka in the BBC (warning for picture of rubble)

Read more about the “child rights crisis” and one version of the deportation allegations in AP News

Read more about the deportation allegations in Reuters

Read the stories of people who have been deported in Zaborona

Read more about the forced deportation of children and civilians allegations in Reuters

An overview of the current political state of affairs

In our last post we talked about Russia’s refocusing on Ukraine’s east. Ukraine has admitted to heavy losses so far in the region due to the concentration of Russian forces there, but claims that Russian losses are even higher. Putin told German chancellor Scholz that peace talks about putting an end to the conflict have been effectively blocked between the Kremlin and Kyiv.

In our last post, we also talked about the UN’s General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, visiting Moscow and Kyiv for peace talks; while he was in Kyiv, Moscow carried out an air strike on a missile production factory in Ukraine’s capital, which drew international criticism.

Meanwhile, both Finland and Sweden have been considering joining NATO for protection, with the former expecting a decision on applying within the next few days. Russia has already responded to this by saying it will need to take "retaliatory steps". Ukraine, in the meantime, has completed another step in its application for EU membership.

The office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Irina Venediktova, has also announced the first war crime trial. It will be held against a 21-year-old Russian soldier for allegedly shooting an unarmed 62-year-old civilian. The office claims to be looking into c. 10,700 cases of war crimes and to have identified over 600 suspects.

Read more about Russia’s focus on Eastern Ukraine and the strike during Guterres’ visit in The Guardian

Read more about Scholz and Putin’s conversation in Reuters

Read more about Sweden and Finland’s decision to join NATO and Russia’s reaction in the BBC

Read more about Ukraine’s EU membership application in Euractiv

Read more about the prosecution for war crimes in Ukraine in DW

Call to Action

We are running an additional raffle for our fundraiser until the 20th of May, which you can enter for just 1 euro. All you need to do is fill out the form here with what you would like to commission if you win and upload a screenshot of a donation you’ve made to one of the organisations we support as part of the initiative.

The organisations we have picked work in various spheres and support Ukraine in the current crisis. We urge you to consider donating to them or other organisations that help those affected by the war in Ukraine, and to seek out such that provide relief in the Kyiv area (where we have covered the damages in our previous posts), Eastern Ukraine, and such that support children.

MfU is just one of many fundraising and relief activities being led by citizens around the world. Even if it’s not through us, we encourage you to get involved particularly with monetary donations when possible. Your donation can make a difference in the rapidly worsening situation in Ukraine.

More information on how to donate as part of the raffle, as well as a list of the participating contributors.

#miraculers for ukraine #mfu #mfu 2022 #miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #adrien agreste #ladrien #adrinette #adrienette #marinette dupain cheng #marichat #chat noir #ladybug

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irusita · 2 years

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Four-year-old girl Alisa from Mariupol was hiding in the bombshelters of Azovstal within last 2 months. Alisa’s mother's name is Victoria Obidina and she is a doctor. From the first days of the siege of the city, the child was in a shelter, where a temporary hospital was located and where her mother assisted the wounded soldiers, while Alisa was helping her mom as much as she could: she was bringing the medicines and cheering the wounded. She saw so many dreadful scenes, as no child should see!

During the last evacuation from the territory of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, led by the United Nations and the Red Cross, the Russian invaders separated both mother and daughter. Alisa arrived in Zaporizhia on May, 8th, but her mother was taken to so-called “filtration camp”, organized by the Russian invaders. No one knows where exactly Victoria is and what horrors she survives now.

We, undersigned activists, celebrities, politicians and non-governmental organizations representatives, call on the United Nations and the Red Cross to rescue Victoria Obidina, Alisa's mother from the filtration camp and to bring Victoria Obidina back to her daughter on the territory, controlled by Ukraine!

The United Nations and the Red Cross took the responsibility to evacuate ALL the civilians from the territory of Azovstal plant, and they FAILED to do it. As long as Alisa’s mother Victoria and other citizens of Mariupol remain in the filtration camp on the occupied territory, as long as many more prisoners-of-war remain from Azovstal remain in the filtration camp, the evacuation is not completed!

#ukraine #help ukraine #stand with ukraine #save mariupol #azovstal #mariupol #filtration camps #petition #russian war crimes

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ukrainenews · 2 years

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Daily Wrap Up: Mariupol and Azovstal Steel Plant, May 16, 2022

I’ve been watching this story develop for most of the day, piecing together what I can. There’s more news stories about different topics under the cut at the bottom.

“Ukraine's military command said in early hours on Tuesday that the mission to defend the besieged Azovstal steel plant by "the heroes of our time" in the strategic southern port of Mariupol is over and pledged to rescue servicemen still trapped inside.

"The 'Mariupol' garrison has fulfilled its combat mission," the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement. "The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel... Defenders of Mariupol are the heroes of our time."

A total of 53 injured servicemen were evacuated to a hospital in Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol, on Monday and a further 211 were taken to another point, Ukraine's deputy defence minister said.

Five buses and an armoured personnel carrier carrying the servicemen arrived late on Monday in Novoazovsk, and some of the evacuees were carried out on stretchers into a hospital, a Reuters witness said. Novoazovsk is now under the control of Russia-backed separatists who have held parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014.”

-via Reuters

“Thanks to the actions of the Ukrainian military - the Armed Forces of Ukraine, intelligence, the negotiating team, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, we hope that we will be able to save the lives of our guys. Among them are the seriously wounded, they are being provided with medical aid.

I want to emphasize: Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle. I think that every adequate person will understand these words.

The operation to rescue the defenders of Mariupol was started by our military and intelligence officers. To bring the boys home, the work continues, and this work needs delicacy. And time.”

-via President of Ukraine official website, in an officially translated statement from President Zelenskyy

“The evacuation is likely to mark the end of the longest and bloodiest battle of the Ukraine war and a significant defeat for Ukraine. Mariupol is now in ruins after a Russian siege that Ukraine says killed tens of thousands of people in the city.

For Ukrainians, the Azovstal plant has become a symbol of resistance, with hundreds of troops continuing to fight on there even after the rest of the city had fallen to Russian forces.

Some 600 troops were believed to have been inside the steel plant.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said that the soldiers defending the steel plant had fulfilled their combat mission.

“The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel,” the General Staff said in a statement on its Facebook account. “Efforts to rescue defenders who remain on the territory of Azovstal continue.”

In a statement, the Azov regiment said that it was fulfilling orders to save the lives of its troops.”

-via The Guardian

“Of those evacuated, 53 heavily wounded soldiers will receive medical treatment in Novoazovsk, while 211 will be transferred to Olenivka to take part in an upcoming prisoner exchange, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. “

-via Kyiv Independent

Under the cut: McDonald’s selling it’s business in Russia; Sweden government approves applying for NATO; Russian missiles aiming at targets in western Ukraine; EU unable to get a unanimous vote to cut ties with Russia for oil.

“McDonald’s is to sell its business in Russia, after 30 years of operating its restaurants in the country, in the light of Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

The fast food operator said the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion and the unpredictable operating environment meant continuing running restaurants in the country was “no longer tenable” or “consistent with McDonald’s values”.”-via The Guardian

The Swedish government has officially approved applying for NATO membership, ending 200 years of neutrality.-via SVT Nyheter (Swedish language)

“A Ukrainian military base about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border with Poland was targeted in a Russian missile attack early Tuesday morning, according to information from Maksym Kozytsky, the head of the Lviv regional military administration.

Kozytsky gave no further details in a late-night Telegram post, saying only that further information would be released in the morning.

A series of explosions were heard in central Lviv around 12:45 a.m. local time (5:45 p.m. ET), shortly after air raid sirens had sounded in the city. A member of CNN’s team in the city saw air defenses lighting up to the northwest — in the direction of the Yavoriv military facility about forty kilometers away.

In his first Telegram statement shortly after the all-clear sounded at 1:15 a.m. local time (6:15 p.m. ET), Kozytsky said only that air defense systems had responded to the attack. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, in a post on his Facebook page, said he could not confirm any information about possible missile strikes in Lviv itself.

Yavoriv has been targeted at least three times since the start of the war. In the first attack on March 13, more than 30 people were killed.

Sites in Lviv have also been hit in Russian missiles strikes, including an aircraft parts plant, a fuel depot and several electrical substations.”-via CNN

“European Union leaders were unsuccessful in reaching unanimity on banning Russian oil during a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers, Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Borrell said “unhappily” it was not possible to reach an agreement on a sixth sanctions package against Russia, telling reporters that “we are with the same difficulties about unanimity on the oil ban.”

The EU has proposed banning all oil imports from Russia by the end of this year and removing the country's biggest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT international payments network.

On Wednesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Hungary will only vote for EU sanctions on Russian oil if the bloc comes up with solutions to the problems it would create.

Borrell told reporters that the day’s discussion had clarified some issues about the difficulties Hungary is facing.

“It was not even in the agenda to try to get an agreement today, because we knew it was not possible,” Borrell said.

“But we had a very constructive discussion about the reasons why some member states are reluctant — not only about oil ban but other elements of the sanctions package,” he continued.”-via CNN

#daily wrap up #ukraine #russia #war in ukraine #Azovstal steel plant #mariupol #lviv #EU #NATO #sweden

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pretordh · 2 years

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Ukrainian Marine Oleksandr Pikui, who lost his arms defending Mariupol, spoke about the horror he experienced

The fighter lost both hands due to a shell explosion. He was evacuated to the basement of Azovstal, and from there was miraculously taken by helicopter and operated on the Dnieper.

#russian agression #ukraine war #war #ukraine #stop russia #stop putin #stop war #glory heroes #glory ukraine #glory mariupol #mariupol

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dangermousie · 2 years

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https://censor.net/ua/video_news/3348582/viyina_dlya_mene_zavershytsya_tilky_todi_koly_povernemo_vsi_terytoriyi_azovets_bogdan_tsymbal_yakyyi

This video interview with an Azov officer wounded (he was shot four times on a mission) and evacuated from Azovstal is insane. He’s only 20, his mother, grandmother and uncle were killed when a shell hit their apartment in Mariupol, his father was taken for filtration and it was found out his sons were in Azov and he was taken god knows where. His older brother was also an Azov fighter in Azovstal and was killed. As he says “I don’t have a family any more, only in here” (when he points a finger to his brain.)

He says he joined Azov because he used to live in a village outside of Mariupol as a child and Azov were the guys who liberated it from the Russians in 2015.

He talks about how he lay there bleeding out for over an hour and Russians came by so he played dead. They saw his patch and went dead Azov member? Good, that means we won’t need to finish him off. !!!! He and 5 other most heavily wounded were evacuated by a helicopter and when asked about his plans for the future he says to get back to fighting until they return all the territory. Man!

You know what gets me the most out of this interview with someone who’s gone through 17 kinds of hell by the time most guys his age in the West are going to parties and figuring out what job they might like? The man who is fighting Russia to the death is a Russian speaker. He speaks in Russian the whole interview. This is who Russia is supposedly liberating, only they killed his whole family and he is fighting them to the death.

#real life

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pugilato · 1 year

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Just a weeek before the surrender from Azovstal, Azov Lieutenant Kent McLellan managed to temporarily unblock Mariupol while he was evacuating wounded soldiers and soldiers qho were dying directly through enemy linss. He lead attacks to distract enemy forces, somehow slipped through and was picked up by the Red Cross and taken to hospital in Kyiv for rehabilitative treatment due to sustained injuries he received from non-stop fighting.

#mariupol #ukraine war #self defense #ukraine

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drakulesti · 2 years

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russian terrorists treat our soldiers well. they even gave their beds for them, because russians are very afraid of ukrainian fighters 🔥

#ukraine #russian invasion #war in ukraine #stop russian aggression #war against ukraine #stop putin #russia #russians are nazis #azov #azovstal #save mariupol #mariupol #Маріуполь #Азовсталь #evacuation from azovstal

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leeenuu · 2 years

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Doctors help "Buffalo", the name he uses as a soldier, to train his new prosthetic limb at a clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 17, 2022. "Buffalo" is among the wounded survivors that were evacuated during the last-ditch defense of the Azovstal steel mill. A fight-crew member took his hand and told him not to worry, they'd make it home. "I told him, 'All my life, I dreamed of flying a helicopter. It doesn't matter if we arrive — my dream has come true,'" Buffalo recalled. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A worker from the war crimes prosecutor's office takes in the damage from overnight shelling that landed on a building of Kharkiv's Housing and Communal College as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

A Ukrainian soldier flashes the victory sign atop a tank in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, June 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

One of the coaches collects the remaining equipment at the ruins of the sports complex of the National Technical University in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 24, 2022, damaged during a night shelling. The building received significant damage. A fire broke out in one part but firefighters managed to put it out. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

A Ukrainian service member with a dog observes in the industrial area of the city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Monday, June 20, 2022. (REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

Mourners prayed and sang during Artemiy Dymyd’s funeral at the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Mr. Dymyd, 27, was killed in battle while serving in a special operation unit of the Ukrainian marines. (Emile Ducke/The New York Times)

People watch as a defused 500kg bomb that did not detonate when it landed on an apartment building in March, is lowered from the roof by members of a specialised team that defuses and removes explosives, bombs, mines and other munitions in the Saltivka neighbourhood, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, June 23, 2022. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

Svitlana Zhyvaga, 54, who lives in Lysychansk, crossing one of the destroyed bridges still being used by civilians to go back and forth from Lysychansk to Sievierodonetsk, Friday, June 17, 2022. (Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

Ukrainian service members embrace outside the city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer shells lie on the ground to fire at Russian positions in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, Saturday, June 18, 2022. Writing on one of them reads: "Nothing is forgotten". (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

#war in ukraine #russian world

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vdemon-weeb · 2 years

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I don't trust this whole situation with evacuation of wounded soldiers from Azovstal. Russia and its sockpuppets are the least trustable people I know.

#ukraine #fuck russia #fuck putin

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deargodsno · 2 years

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"The Ukrainian General Staff announced Monday that 53 severely wounded soldiers had been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol.

The announcement was made in a video statement by Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar.

The 53 wounded soldiers were taken Monday to a medical facility in Novoazovsk, a southeastern border town in Donetsk province held by Russian-backed separatists, she said.

She said another 211 Azovstal defenders had been evacuated to Ukrainian-held town of Olenivka through a humanitarian corridor as part of “an exchange procedure.”

“‘Mariupol’ Garrison has completed their combat mission. The Supreme Military Command has ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of military personnel,” she said.

“Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday. He thanked the Ukrainian military and negotiators, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations for their help in arranging the evacuation.

"The work continues to bring the boys home, and this work needs delicacy. And time," he added.

Malyar said that measures aimed at rescuing the remaining defenders at the sprawling steel plant continue to go on.

"Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, we have gained critical time to build reserves, regroup forces and receive assistance from partners. All defenders of Mariupol have completed the tasks given by the command in full,” she added.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to relieve the siege of Azovstal by military means. The most important common task of Ukraine and the whole world is to save the lives of the defenders of Mariupol," she stressed.

Her statement confirms reports earlier Monday by the Russian Ministry of Defense which said an agreement had been reached regarding on the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal plant.

Novoazovsk is only 28 miles east of Mariupol. So it might offer the closest medical facility to the Azovstal plant. If that’s the case, it might raise hopes that once treated and stabilized the wounded soldiers could be taken to Ukrainian-held territory."

#thank you Mokosh/Mara #thank you Perun #thank you Brighid #thank you St Michael #ukraine #mariupol

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xtruss · 1 year

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Mariupol In Photos: How The Battle-Scarred City Has Changed After Eight Months Under Russian Control

These images were taken half a year apart, in summer and in winter, and show efforts to restore the Azov sea pearl

It's now over eight months since Mariupol – the second largest city of the Donetsk People’s Republic – was liberated from Ukrainian forces, which included the neo-Nazi Azov Regiment. The city has become one of the symbols of Russia's military campaign, and victory there has arguably been the main triumph, so far.

Since the fighting ended, locals have tried to return to peaceful life in the now Russian city. Photojournalist Arseniy Kotov visited twice – in the summer and winter of 2022. His photographs reflect its most recent history and its ongoing reconstruction, which is one of Moscow's top priorities.

Summer

I first visited Mariupol in the summer. To get there, I had to hitchhike. The driver dropped me off at Shevchenko Boulevard, one of the city’s central streets – named after the iconic Ukrainian poet. The nearest building, which was on a hill, towered above all the surroundings. To get a better view, I walked upstairs and went out on the balcony of an apartment that was missing doors and had damaged walls. From there, I had a pretty good view of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, now known around the world because of the combat there.

Top Left: A view of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol Top Right: A view of the Azovstal plant from a 16-story building on Shevchenko Boulevard Bottom: The ruins of an apartment building on Kuprina street © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

I walked to the city’s west side and met a 30-something man and woman roaming around a collapsed nine-story apartment building. They were well dressed, in a trendy way, but were collecting trash in the ruins. They asked me not to photograph them.

The city was full of graffiti scribbled after the arrival of Russian troops. Some of the inscriptions demonstrated the locals’ attitude towards the Kiev authorities or other such issues, while others were directly related to survival. “People live here” was one of the most frequent inscriptions. It was meant to protect the lives of residents from grenades thrown by the army when clearing the area.

Top: Photo captions: Inscription on a local garage: “Shame on Ukraine,” inscription on the gates of a house: “People and children live here,” inscriptions on a house on Metallurgov Prospect: “There’s no war,” “Alina and Lera are sexy.” Bottom Left: Sculptures of doves on Lenin Square (formerly Freedom Square) Bottom Right: Burned cars in the yard of an apartment building located at 123 Mira Prospect © RT/Arseniy Kotov

By June, most streets were clean of waste. But burned-out cars were still stacked in the yards and traces of former battles were evident throughout the city.

Just a short walk from these ruins is the city’s central square. It used to be called Lenin Square and had a monument to the founder of the Soviet Union in the center. Following the 2014 coup in Ukraine, the monument was taken down and it became known as Freedom Square. In June 2022, the original name was restored, but the monument hadn’t been replaced yet.

The local Drama Theater is located nearby. During the raging battles in the city, the neo-Nazi Azov regiment promised to “evacuate” local residents to this theater. The building was also used as a bomb shelter. On March 16, while full of people, it was blown up, allegedly by Ukrainian nationalists. The exact number of victims remains unknown to this day.

Top Left: The destroyed Drama Theater. Top Right: The Mariupol port. Bottom: “Mariupol” railway station. © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

On the outskirts of the city, you can see the everyday working life of one the largest port cities on the Azov Sea. On April 13, last year, joint Russian and Donetsk People’s Republic forces liberated the seaport of Mariupol. All hostages, both in the facility and aboard the ships, were freed. The port itself wasn't severely damaged and is currently used for transporting cargo.

For the past eight years, this railway station has housed abandoned electric trains, which used to connect Mariupol with the regional center, Donetsk. The carriages were destroyed during the intense battles of 2022.

Last June, the city still looked abandoned, but people had already started gathering at beaches. Mine explosions still occurred on the Left Bank beach, but that didn’t stop the locals from enjoying themselves by the sea.

Top: A city beach in Mariupol. Bottom Left: Houses on Victory Prospect. Bottle Right: The tram depot in Mariupol. © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

Tram Depot No.2 at the entrance to Mariupol was wrecked during the battles. On March 2, 2022, the vehicles stopped operating. The reconstruction of some city routes is currently being discussed.

Like a major part of the Left Bank district, Victory Prospect was severely affected by the fighting. In the summer, this part of the city seemed almost bereft of life.

The closer we get to Azovstal, the greater the damage. This house stands just a few blocks from the site of the plant. The buildings here have been damaged but can still be repaired. Blocks of houses to the north have already been demolished.

Top: An apartment building on Voinov-Osvoboditeliy street. Bottom Left: Sunset over Mariupol’s Left Bank district. Bottle Right: The house with the “arch.” © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

A whole section of this building collapsed due to shelling or an aerial bomb, with a small remaining panel at the top forming a sort of arch. It was taken down by November.

This photo, taken in the summer, shows the damage to the Left Bank district close to the Azovstal plant. By the fall, when I returned here, most of the ruined buildings had been demolished. A new residential district will be built at the site.

In June, explosions could be heard everywhere. The fighting had stopped, but the site of the plant, as well as many other parts of the city, were still mined. Sappers were working throughout the city.

Top: Demining in progress at the site of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant. Bottom Left: The dome of the market in Mariupol. Bottom Right: Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

Azovstal Iron and Steel Works is a huge metallurgical plant that had been in operation since 1933. Its site extends over 11 square kilometers (4 square miles). The plant has 41 shops, 80 large facilities, and six giant blast furnaces. It was severely damaged during the siege. In the spring of 2022, Azovstal was occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the Azov neo-Nazis. The battle lasted from March 18 to May 17.

Similar damage can be found throughout the area. According to the current plan of city development, the plant will be demolished, and a park will be built on the site. However, the demolition process hasn’t started yet.

The city’s covered market was badly damaged during the fighting. The dome was hit by several shells and the working area riddled with shrapnel. When passing through the structure in the summer, people had to ward off a huge pack of stray dogs. Once fed by the merchants, they now looked thin and starving.

In the summer, a large part of the city still had no water, gas, or electricity. Local residents, who decided to stay, received aid from the Russian Armed Forces, volunteers, and humanitarian aid organizations.

Top: A local resident cooks breakfast on the balcony of a building hit by shells. Bottom Left: The market on Shevchenko Boulevard. Bottom Right: Construction work in an apartment building on Shevchenko Boulevard. © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

Winter

In December 2022, Mariupol resembled a huge construction site. Construction workers from all over Russia and even other former Soviet republics are rebuilding the city.

A large part of Shevchenko Boulevard remained untouched. As a result, it’s now the most bustling part of the city. The market here is booming. Since supermarkets and all major stores have been robbed and destroyed, locals now flock there to buy all sorts of goods: from technical appliances to fruits and vegetables from nearby villages.

Many buildings at the further end of Metallurgov Prospect avoided major damage. The few that were affected are being repaired by construction workers from Russia.

Top: A building being repaired on Metallurgov Prospect. Bottom Left: Reconstruction of a building on Mira Prospect. Bottom Right: Construction work at the site of a residential building on Arkhip Kuindzhi street © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

Specialists have been evaluating all the buildings in Mariupol and deciding whether they can be reconstructed. Where possible, the damage will be repaired. The remaining strictures are being demolished.

Brick buildings are easier to fix up than so-called panel buildings, made of concrete blocks. When a panel is damaged, it must be removed and replaced with either bricks or a new panel. But in the case of brick buildings, holes from shelling can be quickly mended with bricks.

Even fully intact buildings will be subject to capital repair. Roofs, pipes, radiators, and windows will be replaced in most of them. Costs will be covered by the Russian government.

Top: A new roof being installed in the city’s 17th Microdistrict. Bottom Left: The demolition of ruined multi-story apartment buildings on Arkhip Kuindzhi street. Bottom Right: The chapel of the Priazovsk State Technical University in Mariupol © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

Almost all of the administrative and residential buildings in the central district were damaged during combat, including churches and chapels.

Most of the demolition work is carried out with excavators, manipulators, and other construction equipment. Panel buildings are demolished quickly – it takes about a week to tear down a nine-story building.

The boiler house (its pipes are visible in the foreground) was launched in the fall, just in time for the heating season. In the beginning of December, construction workers also replaced the roofs of nearby buildings.

Top: Five-story residential buildings on Bakhchivandzhi street. Bottom Left: Mobile café “Mariupol Is Russia, and That’s It.” Bottom Right: The exemplary 24th microdistrict © RT/Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT

These houses in Mariupol were among the first to be reconstructed. By December, a large part of the interior work was done, windows were replaced and the exterior renovation was nearly complete.

A mobile cafe chain called “Mariupol Is Russia and That’s It” [a play on the name of the Russian fast-food chain “Tasty and That’s It”] appeared on the streets of the city last fall. I haven’t tried it yet, but the cafe is popular with locals and workers.

— By Arseniy Kotov, Independent Photojournalist

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mariacallous · 1 year

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When 30-year-old Mariupol resident Dmytro Lisovets and his aunt set out to escape their occupied hometown, there was only one route left: through Russia. Lisovets planned to find a place to live in Europe and then to come back for his parents, but after undergoing “filtration” at the Russian border, he was arrested and remains in Russian captivity to this day. According to his lawyer, Lisovets referred to himself as “patriot of Ukraine” while Russian border guards interrogated him. Lisovets also revealed that he had served in the Ukrainian Volunteer Army and, later, the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russian authorities are now in the process of prosecuting Lisovets on charges of terrorism, extremism, and participating in an illegal armed formation. Meanwhile, his parents are still living among the ruins of Russian-controlled Mariupol. Elizaveta Nesterova, a journalist from the independent news outlet Mediazona, spoke to Lisovets’s family and lawyer about his situation.

It was April 3, and Anna Krotova (name changed) was sitting at a border checkpoint in the town of Veselo-Voznesenka in Russia’s Rostov region, waiting for her nephew to return from interrogation. It was taking longer than she had anticipated. A day earlier, the two had boarded an evacuation bus together in their hometown of Mariupol, which by then the Russian military had already destroyed with artillery fire. Anna and her nephew were headed to Rostov-on-Don — not because they wanted to venture into Russia but because the road further into Ukraine was closed.

Going east was now the only way to get to the West, to Europe.

“It was a scary ride; there was shellfire overhead,” Krotova recalls. At that point, Mariupol was almost completely under Russian control, but Ukrainian troops in the city center and in the Azovstal iron and steel works were still fighting back.

By nightfall, Krotova and her nephew, 30-year-old Dmytro Lisovets, had reached Veselo-Voznesenka. Like all other Ukrainian men on the bus, Dmytro was forced into filtration. The procedure entails long and sometimes humiliating interrogations, including thorough and intrusive inspections of each person’s tattoos, documents, and phone contents.

For a long time, Lisotevs didn’t return from the office where he’d been taken. When he finally emerged, he was in handcuffs, struggling to carry the bags he’d brought from Mariupol, says Krotova. After the officers took him away, she stayed outside of the office for a long time, unsure what to do. “[Eventually,] I went down the hallway, tried to find someone in charge, and stumbled upon some young guy. I broke into tears immediately, of course — we’d already been through so much. My sister had entrusted me with her son, and they were taking him away somewhere right in front of my eyes.”

The young worker asked, “Did you really not know that your Dmytro had served in the Ukrainian army? Not to mention in [the paramilitary group] Right Sector? He confessed to everything already.” According to Krotova, she knew that her nephew had served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces at some point, but she had never heard anything about him being in Right Sector. The young man wouldn’t tell her where Dmytro had been taken.

“Can you at least tell me that they won’t shoot him?” she asked.

“They won’t shoot him, but he’s going to do time.”

From that moment, neither Krotova nor Dmytro Lisovets’s other relatives have seen him or communicated with him.

Torture in Taganrog

Dmytro Lisovets was born and raised in Mariupol. Like everyone in the city at the time, he spent late February and March 2022 under artillery fire. In 2016, Lisovets joined the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, a paramilitary unit created by Ukrainian nationalist Dmytro Yarosh in 2015, after he resigned as the head of Right Sector. According to Lisovets’s lawyer, Grigory Kreshchenetsky, Lisovets joined the unit because he wanted to defend Mariupol, which found itself near the unrecognized border of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic.” He was 24 at the time.

In early 2017, according to Kreshchenetsky, Lisovets left the Ukrainian Volunteer Army. A few years later, in 2020, he joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a contract soldier and served until 2021.

“He told them this himself [during filtration] because he didn’t believe he had committed a crime, and he was absolutely right about that,” Kreshchenetsky explained to Mediazona. “He told them directly that he’s Ukrainian and that he loves his city and his country. That’s why they arrested him.”

According to Kreshchenetsky, Lisovets never took part in combat; he just patrolled the border of the self-proclaimed “DNR.”

Immediately after Lisovets’s detention, Russian authorities charged him with disobeying a police officer and sentenced him to five days in prison, which he served in the city of Taganrog. “We all know how the Russians do it: They claim a person was disobedient when they need to arrest him quickly before his criminal case,” Kreshchenetsky said.

When the five days were up, Lisovets was taken to another detention facility in Taganrog, where he remained for almost two and a half months; according to his lawyer, he was held there without even the pretense of legality.

“In that detention center, they beat him, tortured him, and demanded that he admit to being in combat,” said Kreshchenetsky. “‘They don’t beat around the bush with Ukrainians. They burst into your cell wearing masks and beat everybody indiscriminately,’” he says Lisovets told him, adding that he and his cellmates are forced to stand in their cells from morning until night, forbidden to sit or even kneel. “And can you imagine what state a person is in after standing on his legs for eight to nine hours straight? It’s torture,” the lawyer said.

Lisovets was held in the second facility until June 15, despite the absence of any charges against him. It wasn’t until June 16, according to Kreshchenetsky, that officials opened a felony case. At that point, he was sent to another detention facility, this one in the building of the FSB’s Rostov regional office.

The FSB’s secret witness

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) is conducting the investigation into Lisovets. He was initially charged with three felonies: participating in an illegal armed formation, participating in the activity of an extremist formation, and training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities. The charges stem from Lisovets’s former membership in the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, which Russia’s authorities consider an “illegal armed formation” and a part of Right Sector, which has been categorized as an “extremist organization” in Russia since 2014.

“All of these charges are unsubstantiated; all of them are based on the idea that Dmytro served in Right Sector, which is something [the Russian authorities] made up and which isn’t backed by any evidence,” Lisovets’ lawyer, Grigory Kreshchenetsky, told Mediazona.

In addition to Lisovets’ own “confessions,” Russia’s criminal case apparently relies on testimony from a classified witness who supposedly saw Lisovets patrolling the border between Ukraine and the self-proclaimed “DNR’’ as part of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army in 2016: “[The witness] testified that he’s a citizen of the DNR, that he was at the line of contact, and that he saw this guy through his binoculars. Then he found his last name on the Internet and established that it was Lisovets,” said Kreshchenetsky.

Lisovets’ lawyer also says that the resolution initiating these criminal proceedings includes language from investigators calling Dmytro a “proponent of the ideology of radical Ukrainian nationalism and Russophobia.” In a motion to terminate the case, Kreshchenetsky wrote that Lisovets “voluntarily left the Ukrainian Volunteer Army” in January 2017, and that he informed Russian authorities of his past participation in the formation during the numerous interrogations conducted as part of his “filtration.” Kreshchenetsky notes that an addendum to the laws Lisovets is being charged under states explicitly that confessing to the authorities absolves a person of criminal responsibility.

In every interrogation, according to Kreshchenetsky, Lisovets told occupation authorities that he served in the Ukrainian Army because he’s a patriot of Ukraine. At the same time, the lawyer said, not only was Lisovets never a part of Right Sector, but he also doesn’t support “ideas of nationalism and Russophobia.” When asked during one of the interrogations whether he needed a translator, Lisovets reportedly responded, “Why? Russian is my native language.”

“And now you have a person who’s spoken Russian his entire life being charged with Russophobia,” said Kreshchensky. “His mother is still in ‘liberated’ Mariupol. From whom has she been liberated? Only from water, from heat, and from gas, probably.”

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ukrainenews · 2 years

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Daily Wrap Up May 17, 2022

Under the cut: Azov regiment from the Azovstal steel plant has surrendered and they have been taken into Russian controlled territory for medical treatment until they figure out what to do with them (it’s not looking great, in my opinion); US state department creating a unit to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine; Israel’s embassy in Kyiv has reopened; 8 dead and 12 wounded after missile hit in Chernihiv oblast.

Here’s what I know so far about the Azovstal situation:

-At least 7 buses with Azovstal defenders leave steel plant on May 17 (x)

-Ukraine hopes to trade for their soldiers in a prisoner swap. (x)

-Russia has been discussing putting the Azov soldiers on trial, saying, ““Nazi criminals should not be exchanged.” (x)

-Russian investigators have said they plan to interrogate the soldiers and could charge them with “crimes committed by the Ukrainian regime against the civilian population in south-east Ukraine”. (x)

Reuters has done a very thorough wrap up here, which I highly suggest reading.

“The evacuation mission at the Azovstol steel plant in Mariupol continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Tuesday.

“Negotiation process with Russia continues on evacuation of our heroes from Azovstal. Evacuation mission continues. It’s overseeing by our military and intelligence officers. The most powerful international mediators are involved,” Zelensky said.

Ukraine's military said late Monday that its forces had completed their "combat mission" at the sprawling steel plant, which was for weeks the last major holdout in a city otherwise occupied by Russian troops.”

-via CNN

“The US state department will create a new unit to research, document and publicise alleged war crimes by Russia in Ukraine.

The Conflict Observatory will “capture, analyze, and make widely available evidence of Russia-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” the department said.

The Observatory will collect publicly and commercially available information, including what is seen on social media and commercial satellite imagery, for use in current and future civil and criminal legal processes.

Nearly three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Kyiv says it has identified thousands of suspected war crimes cases. Most notorious have been the allegations murder of scores of civilians in Bucha, just outside Kyiv.

The Observatory will create an online platform “to help refute Russia’s disinformation efforts and shine a light on abuses,” the department said.”-via The Guardian

“French President Emmanuel Macron promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky additional weapons in the days to come in a phone call between the two leaders, according to an Elysée Palace statement. Macron confirmed that arms deliveries by France will “continue and increase in intensity in the days and weeks to come, as will the delivery of humanitarian aid,” the statement said.”-via CNN

Israel’s embassy in Kyiv has reopened. -via Embassy of Israel on Twitter

“Eight people have died and 12 wounded after Russia launched a missile strike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service, Reuters reports.

The regional governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said Russia launched four missiles at around 5am local time. Two of the missiles hit buildings in the village, he said.”-via The Guardian

#daily wrap up #ukraine #russia #war in ukraine #Azovstal steel plant #mariupol #Israel #france #Chernihiv #US

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