A year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian tells the story of perhaps the most shocking chapter of the war so far
. On 15 March a decision is made that policing is no longer possible. Around half of the prewar police force is still in the city, many of them sleeping on the floor in barricaded police stations and heading out on patrol when they can. Now, they have a decision to make.
The soldier recognises his old colleague immediately, and initially issues threats. But then, just as he is turning to tell his superiors he has caught a Ukrainian cop, something changes in his eyes. “Go,” he whispers, and waves the car through the checkpoint. The policeman drives on, shaken, and reaches Ukrainian-held territory safely.Lives and fates turn on split-second moments like this.
At hospital number one, traumatologist Serhiy Mudryi and the two surgeons now work by natural light, using the generator only if there is an absolute medical need for light or electronic equipment. One day in late March, the remaining anaesthesiologist, Oleksandr Zhuk, attempts a short drive outside the hospital to return a patient to another shelter, but on the return journey his car is shot up and he is hit multiple times. He makes it back but only just, his car slamming into the hospital building with Zhuk slumped over the wheel and losing blood fast.
On 6 April, Russian soldiers peer into the basement, announcing they now control the territory and there will be an evacuation. When Mudryi emerges, the hospital buildings have taken multiple hits. He never finds out whether his patients survived or were burned alive., 82 out of 106 hospitals and other healthcare facilities in Mariupol have been destroyed or damaged.The Russians are closing in on the centre of Mariupol from all sides.
Two of the basements are packed with civilians, plant employees and their families, whom the factory director invited to take refuge when the hostilities started, not expecting that the Ukrainian military would also see the warren of tunnels as the perfect place for a last stand against the Russians.
The Russians drop huge FAB bombs, which smash through the ground and reach the basements, the blast impact throwing one wall against another and crushing those in between. Azovstal is now at the centre of international attention. The UN secretary general flies to Moscow to ask Vladimir Putin to open a corridor for the civilians at the plant to leave. Wives of the fighters travel to the Vatican to petition the Pope.
With the civilians gone, the Russians discuss storming the plant. Amid rumours of a surrender, many fighters inside discuss whether it might be better to fight to the very end, or embark on a suicidal break-out mission to storm Russian lines. The city is an open cemetery, with thousands of shallow graves in the courtyards of apartment blocks. As rescue teams go door to door, they find that often the elderly or immobile starved to death in their apartments.
The vast cemetery, overlooking the city skyline and the glimmering Sea of Azov, contains fields of ornate monuments, crosses and tombstones from years past that stretch out into the distance. “Sometimes we got boxes with body parts from whole families thrown together – parents and children all in one,” he says, shaking his head slowly and pulling on a cigarette.
Russian news bulletins are filled with tales of happy residents receiving the keys to apartments in newly built blocks. But despite the intensive rebuilding efforts, it will be a very long time before any semblance of normality comes to Mariupol. The kitchen walls still bear the evidence of the time a sniper on an opposing rooftop mistook her for a soldier and sprayed bullets through her window, as she stood in her kitchen. Miraculously, she survived with nothing worse than a grazed heel.
For those who have working televisions, the programming is switched to Russian; internet traffic is also routed through Russian servers and access to many Ukrainian sites blocked.The idea is to repeat the experience of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Bombed to ruins by Putin’s troops at the very beginning of his reign over Russia, it was later rebuilt as a glittering metropolis using extensive subsidies from Moscow.
On 4 November, Russia’s national unity day, Putin describes Mariupol as an “ancient Russian city”. As evidence, the Russian president cites the “well-known” fact that Peter the Great founded his first naval flotilla there in the early 18th century. The claim is entirely fabricated. Darya, a 24-year-old student who left Mariupol in the summer, returns to the city in January, to care for family members and to be close to the grave of her boyfriend. She is amazed to find many people full of praise for Moscow.
Once in a while, she sees a different kind of symbol: “Glory to the Ukrainian Army” splashed in paint on a wall, or a poster announcing that “Mariupol is Ukraine”. Sometimes, people have simply painted the letter ï, which exists in Ukrainian but not in Russian. It is a shorthand mode of resistance, and a glimmer of hope for those in the city who long for Kyiv’s return.Photograph: Ed Ram/The Guardian.
But in Mariupol, as in other territories occupied by Russia, this is a difficult and emotional topic on which there are many disagreements. Where is the line between cooperation to survive and collaboration? With every passing month of Russian rule, that potential future process becomes more fraught with difficulties.
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