“It’s not a war between the Ukrainian army and the Russian army but between the Russian army and Ukrainian civilian people,' a Mariupol escapee says.
is not being fought between armies, but is instead being waged by the Russian military against helpless civilians like him.
Stanislav and Irina Ivanov say they fear for their relatives who have not been able to escape from Mariupol.At first, the Ivanovs thought they could ride out the fighting. When the air raid sirens sounded and gunfire echoed Feb. 24, the first day of the invasion, they grabbed their cat, Kotya, and rushed to their tiny basement. It was just the beginning of a three-week odyssey to escape the now decimated city.By March 2, the situation in Mariupol had become increasingly deadly.
A couple of days later, they tried to escape again but were blocked by the Ukrainian forces who, they say, told them the Russian forces were shooting civilians. They approached the Ukrainian checkpoint gingerly, fearing they would be turned back again, but instead soldiers waved them on. What they did not know was that Ukrainian and Russian officials had negotiated a humanitarian corridor for Mariupol residents.
Anastasiia Hrechkina, 22, says she contemplated killing herself to avoid dying of starvation before she managed to hitchhike out of the Mariupol. And she didn’t leave alone — she left with her mother, sister, aunt, cousin, a friend, and two dogs.
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