100,000 Mariupol residents are in fatal danger due to unsanitary conditions - the City Hall

IRYNA BALACHUK  — THURSDAY, 21 APRIL 2022, 14:23

About 100,000 Mariupol residents are in fatal danger due to unsanitary conditions in the Russian-occupied city.

Source: Mariupol City Council on Telegram

Quote by the City Council: "Cholera, dysentery and Escherichia coli. About 100,000 Mariupol residents are in fatal danger not only because of the shelling, but also because of unbearable and unsanitary living conditions."

Details: The mayor's office explained that the air temperature is already reaching 20 degrees. The decomposition of thousands of dead bodies under the rubble may soon ignite powerful and deadly epidemics, due to lack of water supply and sanitation in the city. 

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko's quote: "The occupiers are unable to provide the existing population with food, water and medicine. Or they are simply not interested in it. They are blocking all evacuation attempts. Without it, people will die. An immediate and complete evacuation is needed. "

Background: 

• Mariupol has been under siege since 1 March. On 12 April, some of the Ukrainian Marines were able to break through from the "Illich plant" ["Mariupol Metallurgical Plant named after Illich"] to join the "Azov" Regiment at the "Azovstal" plant, and some were taken prisoner.
• The Russian army continues dropping heavy bombs on the "Azovstal" plant. On 19 April, Sviatoslav Palamar (Kalyna), Deputy Commander of the "Azov" Regiment, said that the "Azovstal" plant had been almost completely destroyed and that Ukrainian soldiers were trying to rescue people from under the rubble.
• On 19 April, the Russian Defence Ministry asked Ukrainian defenders stationed at "Azovstal" to lay down their arms and surrender; this was at least the third such request.
• Serhii Volynskyi, Commander of Ukraine’s 36th Independent Marine Brigade, called on foreign countries to urgently undertake an "extraction" of people from Mariupol; that is, to evacuate several hundred military personnel and civilians to a safe place in order to save them from Russian troops.
• On 20 April, the Marines and the "Azov" Regiment rescued 500 Ukrainian soldiers from the Mariupol sea port.
• On 25 April, Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine said that Russia had not abandoned plans to use chemical weapons against Ukrainian defenders and civilians stationed at the "Azovstal" plant.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces still lacked the means to conduct a military operation to liberate Mariupol from Russian occupying forces. 
• The "Azov" Regiment said that on the night of 28 April, the Russian occupiers conducted about 50 air strikes and dropped a large number of phosphorous bombs on Mariupol, and called on the authorities to take decisive measures to unblock the city or evacuate residents and defenders.