Unbroken by a weekslong Russian blockade and relentless bombardment, the key port of Mariupol is holding out, a symbol of staunch Ukrainian resistance. Mariupol has been a key objective for Moscow to create a land corridor to the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The victims include about 300 people killed in last month’s Russian airstrike on the Mariupol Drama Theater that was being used as a shelter and had the word “CHILDREN” printed in Russian in huge white letters on the pavement outside to ward off aerial attack.
Moscow has deployed fighters from Chechnya, known for their ferocity, to wage street battles in Mariupol. Chechnya’s Moscow-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has repeatedly boasted on his messaging app channel about defeating Ukrainians in Mariupol, but the fight has continued. In a post on the brigade’s Facebook page, one of its officers described the unit’s heroic resistance, saying that “for more than a month, the marines have been fighting without replenishing amunition, food and water supplies.” “The wounded accounted for nearly a half of the brigade’s strength, but those who still had their limbs and were capable of walking reported back to duty,” the post said.
As the Ukrainian troops continue to offer fierce resistance in Mariupol, fears have grown that the exasperated Russians could resort to chemical weapons to deal with the remaining pockets of resistance at the Azovstal plant and other areas of the city. Boychenko said that an estimated 120,000 of Mariupol’s pre-war population of about 450,000 remain in the city.
Mariupol has seen communications cut since the start of the siege, and as the Russians moved to capture sections of the city they launched radio broadcasts to brainwash the population.
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