They fled the "hell" of the besieged city of Mariupol and describe images of corpses lying in the streets for days. Hunger, thirst, bitter cold on nights spent in cellars with temperatures below freezing.
Under the relentless pounding of Russian forces' bombardment of this strategic port in southeastern Ukraine, residents, now located in Zaporizhzhya, some 250 kilometers to the northeast, tell Agence France-Presse that they were able to leave after having to melt snow to drink water and cook leftover food using wood to feed themselves because of a lack of drinking water and food supplies.
"It's not Mariupol anymore, it's a hell," said Tamara Kavunenko, 58. The Russians "fired so many rockets," she added, "that the streets are littered with the bodies of civilians." "When it snowed, we collected snow and melted it for water. When it didn't snow, we boiled water from the river to drink it."
Kavunenko is one of more than 4,300 displaced people from Mariupol who have arrived in Zaporizhzhya since the beginning of the week. According to Kiev, more than 2,000 people have died so far in Mariupol. The city is of strategic importance insofar as its capture would allow Russia to make the link between its troops in Crimea and those in Donbass, while blocking Ukrainian access to the Sea of Azov.
Yesterday, Thursday, Ukraine accused Moscow of bombing a theater in the city where hundreds of residents had taken refuge. Local authorities said Russian forces bombed the theater without heeding a warning written on the ground in huge letters in front and behind the building: "Diéti" ("Children" in Russian).
Smell of death
In a message posted on Telegram, Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko said that about 6.500 vehicles were able to leave the city on Wednesday night into Thursday.
In Zaporizhzhya, in a Soviet-era building, Red Cross volunteers wait for displaced people next to stacks of children's shoes and blankets.
With long fingernails and dirty hands, Dima told Agence France-Presse he had not washed for two weeks and was forced to steal food from shops for his children and grandparents.
"We stayed in basements and when it was -4 degrees Celsius, it was a good temperature," he said, lifting his leg to show he was wearing three pairs of trousers to withstand the cold.
"Sometimes the bodies were left in the street for three days," he adds, "the smell is strong in the air and nobody wanted their children to feel that."
Dima says he managed to leave Mariupol on his third attempt and arrived in Zaporizhzhya on Tuesday with his wife and two young children.
For her part, Daria recalls staying in the basement of her building with her baby daughter for ten days.
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"Exhausted, sick, crying"
"Day by day the situation was getting worse," he says, "we were without light, without water, without gas, without any means of survival. It was impossible to buy anything, anywhere."
Marina, a Red Cross volunteer, sees the great agony of the survivors. "They are exhausted, sick, crying," she said. In Zaporizhia, they are offered shelter and the opportunity to shower. "We take care of them," Marina added, "we provide them with everything."
The only way to leave Mariupol is by car. "We saw people with white ribbons [IN THEIR VEHICLE] leaving," testifies a woman Daria, saying she joined them after asking a neighbour to join them.
For some, the journey from Zaporizhzhya, which usually takes three or four hours, took a day and a half.
Many of those who arrived in Zaporizhzhya say they were unable to leave their shelters because of the ferocity of the Russian attacks and that they found a safe route by chance, unable to get help by phone or internet.
Source: APB
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