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Ukrainian residents say the way Russia wants to see Mariupol in the world is very different from reality
“What they show on Russian television is the fairy tale of fools. Most of Mariupol is still in abandoned,” says John, a Ukrainian living in Mariupol under Russian occupation. We changed his name because he feared retaliation from the Russian authorities.
“They are repairing the facade of the main street building and taking pictures of cameras. But there are tiles and emptiness at the corner. Many people live in half-destroyed apartments with walls barely standing,” he says.
It has only been three years since Mariupol was taken by the Russian army after a brutal siege and indiscriminate artillery fire. This is a key moment in the early months of the full-scale invasion of Russia’s Ukraine.
Thousands have been killed, and the United Nations estimates that 90% of residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Over the past few months, videos and reels from several pro-Russian influencers have been painting shiny cities with damaged structures repaired and life returned to normal.
However, the BBC talks to more than half a dozen people (someone who still live in Mariupol, those who fled after spending time under occupation).
“There are a lot of lies floating around,” says Olishko, 66, who ran away from Maripol late last year and now lives in Ternopil, Ukraine.
“I wouldn’t say them [Russian authorities] A lot of things have been repaired. There is a central square – only the buildings there have been reconstructed. There is also empty space where the building stood. They cleaned up the shards, but they didn’t even separate the bodies, they were loaded into trucks with tiled rubs and brought out of town,” she added.
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After crushing Mariupol in a brutal siege, Russia says it is now rebuilding the city
Mariupol is also facing a serious water shortage.
“The water flows for a day or two and then it doesn’t come for three days. We keep a bucket and can at home. The water is very yellow and I’m afraid to drink it even after it boils.”
Some even said that water looks like “Coca-Cola.”
Serhiy Orlov, known as the deputy mayor of Mariupol, in exile, says the Donbas Canal, which supplied water to the city, was damaged during the battle.
“Only one reservoir was supplying Mariupol with water. As for the current population, it would have lasted about a year and a half. The occupation lasted longer than that, meaning there was no drinking water at all.
There are frequent blackouts, food is expensive and medicines are rare, residents tell us.
“Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics have a hard time taking insulin on time, and that’s crazy expensive,” James says.
The BBC is reaching out to the Russian regime in Mariupol to respond to allegations about the shortage and whether they have found an alternative source of water. So far there have been no responses.
Despite the challenges, residents say the most difficult part of living in a city is seeing what Ukrainian children are taught in schools.
Andrii Kozhushyna studied at the university in Mariporu for a year after it was occupied. Now he has fled to Dnipro.
“They teach children misinformation and publicity. For example, they say that school textbooks are already part of Russia, such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zapolijazia, Herson, Odesa, Crimea and even the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Andriy Kozshuina studied at Maripol under Russian occupation before fleeing.
He also described a special lesson called “Conversations on Important Things” where students teach about how to liberate Russia in 2022 the population of Russian-speaking regions from the Nazis.
“Teachers who refuse to take these lessons are threatened or fired. It’s like reprogramming the minds of children,” says John, a resident of Mariupol.
During the celebration of the Victory Day of World War II in May, images from the central square of Mariupol showed children and adults in military costumes taking part in parades and performances. The Soviet-era traditions that Ukraine is increasingly shunning are imposed on the territory currently occupied. Mariupol was soaked in the colors of Russian flags, red, blue and white.
However, some Ukrainians have been secretly resisting Russia, and in the middle of the night they paint Ukrainian blue and yellow colors on the walls, pasting messages such as “Liberation Maripole” and “Maripole is Ukraine.”
James and John were both members of the Resistance Group, as he did when he lived in town.
“The message is as moral support for our people, in order to let them know that resistance is alive,” James says.
Their main purpose is to gather information for the Ukrainian military.
“I will document information about Russian military movements. I will analyze where they are transporting weapons, how many soldiers are coming and going to the city, and the equipment being repaired in our industrial areas. I will secretly take photos and hide them until I can send them through a secure channel to Ukrainian intelligence agency,” says James.
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Russia has changed the language, flags and signs of occupied Ukrainian cities
Occasionally, resistance groups also try to sabotage civil or military operations. This is because signal boxes were burned up by activists as the railway line to Mariupol was destroyed at least twice.
It’s a dangerous job. Andri says he was forced to leave when he realized he was being exposed.
“My neighbor probably got sleazy to me. But when I was buying bread from the store, I saw a soldier showing the photographs to the cashier asking if they knew who the person was,” he said.
He quickly left, passing by Mariupol’s check post, and through numerous Russian cities and Belarus before entering Ukraine from the north.
Every day is a challenge for those still in town.
“I delete messages every day because my phone may be checked at a checkpoint. I’m afraid to call a friend in Ukraine in case my phone is being tapped,” James says.
“The person next door reported that he reportedly handed the information to the Ukrainian army, and he was arrested on the street. Your life is like a movie. It’s constant tension, fear, and mistrust.”
As talks continued between Ukraine and Russia, there were proposals from both inside and outside the Ukraine that there would be a need to concession on the land in exchange for a peace agreement.
“It would be betrayal to hand out territory for a “deal with Russia.” Dozens of people risk their lives every day to pass information to Ukraine. Instead, some diplomats in the suit will sign a paper that will “hand us over,” says John.
“We don’t want peace at the expense of sacrifices. I want liberation. ”
Additional reports by Imogen Anderson, Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko and Sanjay Ganguly
