Mariupol official says there are dead bodies in the streets: 'What could be worse than this?'


It's "Armageddon" in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said Thursday, with residents there having experienced "two days of hell."
In a video posted online, Boichenko said Russian planes are flying over residential areas of the city every 30 minutes and "killing civilians: old people, women, children." Mariupol has been without water and electricity for several days, and there are food and medicine shortages. Russian forces surround the city, and because of heavy shelling, local officials say residents have been unable to evacuate.
"Nine days without food, warmth, and dead bodies everywhere on this street," Petro Andryuschenko, an adviser to the mayor's office, told The Washington Post on Thursday. "What can be worse than this? The only hospital that's left [is] filled to the brim with people." He estimates that 1,300 Mariupol residents have died in the city since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
On Wednesday, a Russian strike hit a Mariupol maternity and children's hospital, leaving three dead and 17 injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack an "atrocity," and video taken in the aftermath shows pregnant women being wheeled out of the damaged building. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed on Thursday that there were no women or children inside the hospital, and it was being used to house Ukrainian fighters. He did not provide any evidence for his claim.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Stereophonic: an 'extraordinary, electrifying odyssey'
The Week Recommends David Adjmi's Broadway hit about a 1970s rock band struggling to record their second album comes to the West End
-
Shifty: a 'kaleidoscopic' portrait of late 20th-century Britain
The Week Recommends Adam Curtis' 'wickedly funny' documentary charts the country's decline using archive footage
-
June 19 editorial cartoons
Thursday’s political cartoons include a robot therapist and ICE-cold assault
-
Are the UK and Russia already at war?
Today's Big Question Moscow has long been on a 'menacing' war footing with London, says leading UK defence adviser
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?
Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How will the MoD's new cyber command unit work?
Today's Big Question Defence secretary outlines plans to combat 'intensifying' threat of cyberattacks from hostile states such as Russia
-
What are the different types of nuclear weapons?
The Explainer Speculation mounts that post-war taboo on nuclear weapons could soon be shattered by use of 'battlefield' missiles
-
The secret lives of Russian saboteurs
Under The Radar Moscow is recruiting criminal agents to sow chaos and fear among its enemies
-
Ukraine-Russia: is peace deal possible after Easter truce?
Today's Big Question 'Decisive week' will tell if Putin's surprise move was cynical PR stunt or genuine step towards ending war
-
What's behind Russia's biggest conscription drive in years?
Today's Big Question Putin calls up 160,000 men, sending a threatening message to Ukraine and Baltic states
-
Is the 'coalition of the willing' going to work?
Today's Big Question PM's proposal for UK/French-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine provokes 'hostility' in Moscow and 'derision' in Washington