Мariupol has been blockaded for thirty-five days. The occupiers started shelling the city during the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and succeeded in surrounding it on March 1. This whole time its citizens have lived not only with the unending sounds of shelling but have been cut off from light, water, gas, and electricity and have no access to food and medicines. The first humanitarian corridor was finally opened on March 14 and almost everyone who left described what they experienced as hell. We have brought you stories about Mariupol before: about emergency medics, about a woman who escaped the occupation and then returned to rescue her family, and about the workers at a center to help evacuees. This time we are showing you pictures of Mariupol today: ruined buildings, destroyed military hardware, and makeshift cemeteries in the middle of backyards.
Up to a dozen bodies lie in the centre of a crater left by an airstrike. Bodies were thrown in after the event; the extant crater serving as an impromptu mass grave. Photo: Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A civilian is being controlled at a check point by pro-Russian separatists in Mariupol city. Photo: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A pro-Russian soldier lies dead in the city centre of Mariupol. Photo: Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
People cook meal on fire outside houses in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Photo: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Maxar satellite imagery of apartment buildings and homes destroyed in east Mariupol. Satellite image (c) 2022 Maxar Technologies.
A view of damaged buildings and vehicles after shelling in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Photo: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Men emerge to procure supplies in their still burning neighbourhood in the city. Photo: Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Civilians collect water near the hospital amid the ongoing conflict in the city of Mariupol. Photo: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A deceased man lies next to a Ukrainian flag in a road reduced to ruins by intense artillery bombardment in the port city of Mariupol. Photo: Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A man walks past a damaged tank after shelling in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Photo: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A general view of destruction amid the ongoing conflict in the city of Mariupol. Photo: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A freshly dug grave next to two bombed out residential buildings in the besieged city of Mariupol. Photo: Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A body lying on the ground after shelling in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol under the control of Russian military. Photo: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A destroyed vehicle is seen after Russian attack on a humanitarian convoy fleeing Mariupol to about 20 km from the city of Zaporizhzhia. Photo: Andrea Carrubba/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images