Rubble of the children’s hospital severely damaged by Russian bombing of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, March 9, 2022


“Hope Dies Last”: Life Under Siege in Ukraine’s Mariupol

See also EA on BBC and ANews: Will US Support of Ukraine Last?

Wednesday’s Coverage: Russia Bombs Children’s Hospital as 1,170 Killed in Mariupol


UPDATE 1645 GMT:

As Vladimir Putin denies that Russian conscripts are in Ukraine, Moscow is planning to allow conscription summons to be sent by mail.

If the intended recipient does not receive the letter and does not go to the recruiting office, he will be subject to criminal prosecution.


UPDATE 1622 GMT:

The deputy mayor of Mariupol, Serhiy Orlov, says at least 1,207 people have been killed by Russian attacks on the southern Ukraine city.

Orlov emphasizes that these are “just bodies that we collected on the street”.

Residents remained trapped, as there were no evacuations from Mariupol on Thursday.

The deputy head of a Red Cross delegation, Sasha Volkov, says most people in the city of 430,000 have no food, water, heat, electricity, or medical care.

Many people report having no food for children. People started to attack each other for food. People started to ruin someone’s car to take the gasoline out.

Shops and pharmacies were looted several days ago.

We keep the shelter, the basement, only for children and their mother. All other adults and children above twelve they sleep in the office.

We will have food for a few days. We have started to get sick, many of us, because of the humidity and cold that we have. We tried to achieve hygiene standards as much as possible but not always actually possible.

Meanwhile, in Russian-occupied Melitopol to the west, residents continue to show defiance:


UPDATE 1240 GMT:

Chinese smartphone manufacturers Xiaomi, Oppo, and Huawei have cut shipments to Russia by at least 50% because international sanctions and the historic devaluation of the rouble.

The Chinese products account for about 60% of Russia’s smartphone market.


UPDATE 1230 GMT:

Russian Foreign Minister has dismissed concern about casualties from Russia’s strike on a hospital in Mariupol in southern Ukraine as “pathetic shrieks” from the international community.

In contrast to statements from the Kremlin (see Original Entry), Lavrov said Russia had attacked the hospital. He claimed it had been seized by far-right Ukrainian fighters wusing it as a base.

Defying images of the casualties, Lavrov insisted all patients and nurses were moved out of the hospital before the Russian strikes.

“It is not the first time we see pathetic shrieks concerning so-called atrocities,” he asserted.


UPDATE 1213 GMT:

For the first time, a Chinese official has referred to “war” in Ukraine.

In a conversation with French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the war should stop “as soon as possible” with all sides calming down.


UPDATE 1205 GMT:

Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna says the humanitarian corridor for Mariupol has again been blocked, this time by fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.


UPDATE 1155 GMT:

A meeting between Ukraianian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, brokered by Turkey, has ended with no progress on a ceasefire or humanitarian corridor in besieged Mariupol.

Kuleba said the meeting, on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, was not easy that he is ready to meet again using the same format.

He emphasized that while Ukraine is ready to pursued balanced diplomatic solutions, it will not surrender.

“Ukraine cannot stop the war if the country that started the aggression has no desire to do so,” Kuleba said, noting that it was not easy to listen to Lavrov during the meeting.

The Russian Foreign Minister said that Moscow, as it is attacking Ukraine, is ready to discuss security guarantees for the country.


UPDATE 0925 GMT:

The UK freezes the assets of seven Russian businessmen. They include:

  • Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club;
  • Igor Sechin, the CEO of the Russian oil company Rosneft;
  • Oleg Deripaska, the aluminum tycoon who was a figure in Russia’s 2016 intervention in the US Presidential election;
  • Dmitry Lebedev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya

UPDATE 0855 GMT:

The city council has confirmed the killing of three people, including a child, in the Mariupol hospital strike:

Russian troops purposefully and ruthlessly destroy the civilian population of Mariupol. The whole world should know about Russia’s crime against humanity, against Ukraine and against the people of Mariupol!


UPDATE 0835 GMT:

Another case of Russia’s deadly shelling of Ukraine’s civilians — strikes on Okhtyrka in the northeast killed a 13-year-old boy and two women early Wednesday, according to said regional officials.


UPDATE 0810 GMT:

Western officials and intelligence services assess that Russia’s ground offensive is continuing to struggle amid reported problems with supply and morale, as well as Ukrainian resistance.

The UK Ministry of Defence’s latest intelligence report notes that a 60-km (37-mile) column northwest of Kyiv has “made little progress in over a week” and is suffering “continued losses”.

The Ministry notes that Russia is sending more conscripts to Ukraine, despite Vladimir Putin’s claim that none are involved in the invasion.

It also claims a “notable decrease in overall Russian air activity” in recent days, likely due to the “unexpected effectiveness and endurance” of Ukrainian air defence forces.

Lithuania President Gitanas Nausėda said in an interview:

I look at these soldiers and I don’t see the motivation, what should they fight for. For Putin? Who is Putin to them? They are, beyond any doubt, the army of the aggressor, the soldiers of the aggressor.

The reports echo those of Ukraine’s military, which says Russia forces have “reduced the pace” with “demoralised” personnel: “The number of cases of desertion and looting has increased significantly.”


UPDATE 0800 GMT:

Seven “humanitarian corridors” have been announced for Thursday, amid claims that some Russian troops are in besieged Mariupol.

Other reports say Russia is continuing the bombing of the city, with one person killed.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russian forces bombed a children’s hospital and maternity ward in besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine on Wednesday.

The attack severely damaged the hospital and wounded at least 17 people. Children and women in labor were in the rubble.

Just before the bombing, Deputy Mayor Sergiy Orlov said 1,170 people have been killed in Mariupol since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. He reiterated that there is No water, heat, power, or gas. Residents are drinking snow and burning firewood.

“It’s medieval,” Orlov summarized.

On three occasions, Russia has announced a “humanitarian corridor” for evacuations. Each time, its forces have shelled evacuees. The road has been mined and a checkpoint set up. As a result, only 2,000 to 3,000 of 200,000 prospective evacuees had moved out of the city each day.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the hospital bombing — “beyond atrocity” — and spoke in Russian:

A children’s hospital, a maternity ward. How did they threaten the Russian Federation? What is this country, the Russian Federation, that is afraid of hospitals, maternity wards and is destroying them?

He added in Ukrainian:

Europeans, Ukrainians, Mariupol residents, we have to stand united in condemning Russia for this crime that reflects all evil that the invaders have brought on us, on all destroyed cities….

Hospitals and schools are destroyed. Churches and ordinary buildings are destroyed. People are killed. Children are killed. Air bombing on a children’s hospital is the ultimate evidence that genocide of Ukrainians is happening.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, initially insisted, “Russian forces do not fire on civilian targets.”

He revised his statement on Thursday, “We will definitely ask our military, because you and I don’t have clear information about what happened there.”

Russia also bombed two hospitals — one of them a children’s hospital — in the city of Zhytomyr, about 150 km (93 miles) west of Kyiv, on Wednesday. There were no casualties.

Another hospital has been destroyed in Saltivka in eastern Ukraine.

The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 attacks on medical facilities during the Russian invasion. It said 10 people have been killed and 16 wounded.

Ukrainian rescuers carry an injured pregnant woman from Mariupol’s damaged maternity hospital (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP):

Ukrainian rescuers carry an injured pregnant woman from Mariupol's damaged maternity hospital (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP):

A War on Civilians

The bombing of Mariupol also illuminated Russia’s differing approach to civilians across Ukraine, as Moscow evaluated propaganda advantages against an offensive to break the will of Ukrainians and force the surrender and downfall of the Zelenskiy Government.

On Wednesday, some “humanitarian corridors” were maintained in northern Ukraine, with more than 40,000 civilians evacuated. However, others — including from Mariupol — were impeded by Russian shelling. In Izyum in northeast Ukraine, buses waited at the entrance to the town as local official, with the support of the Red Cross, pursued talks with the Russian forces.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said between 2.1 million and 2.2 million Ukrainians have left the country.

Zelenskiy again appealed for international assistance, with a mixed response.

More anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles were despatched to Kyiv, but the Pentagon killed off a plan for supply of MiG-29 jet fighters from Poland to Ukraine via the US.

Spokesman John Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken to his Polish counterpart and “stressed that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time, and therefore had no desire to see them in our custody either”.

Kirby said that Ukraine could already defend itself with anti-armor and anti-aircraft missiles, and that the delivery of the 28 Soviet-era MiG-29s “could result in a significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO”.

Aid for Ukraine, Companies Leave Russia

There was better news for Kyiv on the economic front. The International Monetary Fund approved $1.4 billion in emergency financing. The US House passed a bill for $13.6 billion in military and economic assistance, with the legislation now going to the Senate and then President Joe Biden for confirmation.

More companies left Russia, including food giant Nestle, tobacco firms Philip Morris and Imperial Brands, Japan’s Hitachi, and the confectionary company Mars.

However, there was a setback for Ukrainian refugees. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson maintained London’s strict limit on visas, with only 300 issued so far.

Johnson insisted the figure was 1,000 and then said the refugees might be Russian agents: “We know how unscrupulous Putin can be in his methods, it would not be right to expose this country to unnecessary security risk and we will not do it.”