The eyes of the whole world are riveted on this great port and industrial city in the south of Donetsk. Soon after the start of the conflict, Mariupol became the symbol of the war in Ukraine. Highly prized by the Russian forces who have been besieging it for ten days, the city has already lost more than 2,000 civilians, according to the municipality. Why is this port city of less than 500,000 inhabitants so important to Vladimir Putin? Why are the bombings to which it has been subjected so emblematic in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? 20 minutes takes stock of the situation in Mariupol.
A particularly strategic city
As early as January, an offensive led on Mariupol by the Russians had caused the death of around thirty people. Indeed, very early on, well before the start of the Russian offensive, the city of Mariupol imposed itself as a real strategic challenge for the pro-Russian separatists. The reason ? In the Donbass basin, Mariupol was the last major metropolis still in the hands of kyiv. Located about 55 kilometers from the Russian border and 85 kilometers from the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, Mariupol is the largest city still in the hands of kyiv in the Donbass basin which includes the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The capture by Moscow of this port city, populated before the war by 450,000 inhabitants and located on the shores of the Sea of Azov, was an important turning point in the invasion of Ukraine. It made it possible to make the connection between the Russian forces coming from annexed Crimea, which had already taken the ports of Berdiansk and Kherson, and the separatist troops in the Donbass.
A symbolic bombardment
On March 10, the war in Ukraine reached a new level on the scale of horror. Three people, including a child, were killed in the Russian bombardment of the Mariupol pediatric hospital. This attack provoked the indignation of the Ukrainian and Western authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who condemned a “war crime”, shared videos showing the destruction – after an air raid – of the establishment. Interiors of buildings can be seen blown away, debris, sheets of paper and shards of glass littering the ground. The bombardment occurred while women were giving birth in the hospital, which had just been re-equipped. It is in a context that will be broadcast one of the most striking images since the beginning of the war in Ukraine: a pregnant woman evacuated from the pediatric hospital of Mariupol, after being seriously injured during the bombardment of the establishment by Russia.
According to the Associated Press, the victim and her baby, born by caesarean section, did not survive. “More than thirty minutes of resuscitation yielded no results for the mother and the child,” doctor Timur Marin told the news agency.
The birth of a martyr city
This Wednesday, the American space technology company Maxar released several videos in the form of GIFs showing the extent of the damage. Satellite photos show Mariupol before and after the Russian attacks. The first post shows damage to grocery stores and malls in the western part of the city. Black smoke indicates buildings continue to burn.
After nine days of Russian siege, the provisional toll of the town hall reports 1,207 dead on Wednesday. “We will never forgive,” the city’s mayor said on Telegram. The violence of the attacks but also the symbolism of the places and populations affected make Mariupol a symbol of Russian determination and the horror experienced by Ukrainian civilians.
The hope of a way out of the crisis?
Hope is reborn in Mariupol. Despite the horror, some 20,000 people were able to leave the major port city in southeastern Ukraine on Tuesday. “Today, about 20,000 people left Mariupol” in 4,000 cars, confirmed in a press release the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko. In total, about 29,000 people were evacuated from several besieged cities across the country on Tuesday alone, according to the same source.