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ZAPORIZHE, Ukraine – As buses from Mariupol arrived one by one, shocked passengers inside looked exhausted. Hardly any of them spoke when the doors opened.
Their escape from the devastated Ukrainian city, over which Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory Thursday, even when his advisers acknowledged that thousands of Ukrainian fighters are still there, felt like a “miracle”, a woman said.
“They destroyed everything,” another nodded softly.
“Glory to Ukraine,” the teenager shouted.
The convoy of vehicles, the first to receive a safe passage from Russia in almost two weeks, had to include dozens of vehicles. As it was, only four buses arrived in the southeastern city of Zaporozhye, 140 miles north of Mariupol, the others detained as night fell from Russian checkpoints along the route, officials said.
A stream of private cars passed by.
“Everything you see during the day when people are not let go, when buses are not running and there is no evacuation, is a violation of Russia’s guarantees,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk, who met with the buses for several hours. after rockets fell on the edge of town.
The humanitarian corridor is the latest in a series of attempts being discussed by Ukraine and Russia to evacuate civilians from Mariupol. Other agreements failed due to mistrust.
The victory in the city will be the most significant for Russia in this war so far. The port city is crucial to Russia’s hopes of forming a continuous land corridor stretching from Russia’s border region of Eastern Donbass to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
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On Thursday, the fleeing civilians came with horrific stories about the brutal tactics used by Russian forces. They said the relentless shelling lit up the sky as Russian soldiers roamed house after house in search of alleged enemies. The families lived underground and survived on dried pasta or raw grains. Even if you dare to find water, it can mean death from above.
“The ground was shaking,” said Ruslana, sitting next to her daughter as she ate her first proper meal in weeks – fresh bread and stewed fruit – at a reception center in Zaporozhye.
Like other civilians interviewed, she did not share her last name out of concerns for her family’s safety.
“The worst thing was that when you went outside, you saw that no one was allowed to pick up the bodies,” she said, and her eyes widened. “It simply came to our notice then. We know that many families have been burned alive.
When the first bus opened in Zaporozhye, many families were just sitting and waiting, as if trying to figure out they were safe. Some children sat painfully motionless. They watched in silence as Ukrainian police and volunteers registered their arrival.
In front of a nearby yellow bus, other families were crying over each other as reporters asked about the conditions from which they had fled. “There was no light, no water,” shouted a woman. “It was hell,” said another.
An elderly woman closed her eyes and just looked lost in the chaos. She hung her head and there were tears on her cheeks.
In a rare televised meeting on Thursday, Putin addressed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, telling him that “the work of the armed forces for the liberation of Mariupol has been successful. Congratulations. “
He added that he had “canceled” his plans to storm the plant and forcibly expel other Ukrainians who had been refusing to surrender Russia’s request for days.
But the deputy commander of the last remaining forces fighting for Ukraine in Mariupol said on Thursday that his troops continue to fight, even when Russian officials say victory.
Mariupol fighters are “dying underground” at the steel plant, the commander said
Svyatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Battalion, a nationalist group that is part of Ukraine’s National Guard, told the Azovstal Railway Plant – where his troops and the 36th Separate Marine Brigade repelled Russia’s attack – that have been “surrounded” but “continue to defend themselves”.
Palamar was able to communicate with The Washington Post via satellite with freelance journalist Christina Bondarenko, and he painted a picture that contradicted Russia’s claims of victory.
He said Ukrainian fighters in Azovstal had repulsed Russia’s offensive and damaged Russian military vehicles.
“We are in Mariupol … so while we are here, no one has betrayed Mariupol yet,” Palamar said, although he acknowledged that they were running out and needed to be evacuated.
Palamar said Russian forces tried for two days, but ultimately failed to storm Azovstal. He said Ukrainian fighters had destroyed three Russian tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, an armored personnel carrier and “many infantry”. “The enemy failed to capture Azovstal in a storm,” he said. “This is the situation so far.”
While Putin may have ordered his troops not to advance into the plant, Russian forces are still shelling it, Palamar said.
Adviser to Ukrainian President Alexei Arestovich said on Thursday that Russia’s claims of victory in Mariupol were premature. “They can’t physically take Azovstal, they understood; they suffered huge losses there, “he said.
Shoigu, Russia’s defense chief, estimated on Thursday that about 2,000 troops remain in Azovstal, while Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said there were about 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded – and called for an “emergency humanitarian corridor” to bring them out. .
Palamar said civilians had asked for security guarantees before agreeing to leave the plant. He called on “the whole world to support our president and our politicians to guarantee a safe exit for civilians, to bring out the wounded and dead and to evacuate the garrison defending Mariupol.”
The 204 civilians who arrived on Thursday from Mariupol came out of what looked like a black hole. In their hometown, the cell phone signal was muted or interrupted due to damage to nearby infrastructure.
Many families have not yet been able to tell their loved ones that they have survived.
At the reception center, they waited impatiently for their phones to charge. Nadia, a mother of three, has just learned that her son has survived. But there were others in obscurity.
“I haven’t spoken to my mother since March 1,” she said. “We don’t know anyone who has heard of her.”
For many of those arriving on Thursday, it was the first time they had described their ordeal to outsiders. Her voice was low with exhaustion, and Irina, 75, said her home was destroyed. “I’m homeless now,” she said. “Everything is in ruins.”
“It was very scary, all this shooting and explosions. I was so scared that my legs couldn’t stand me, and they still barely do it. “She looked down at the dried food in front of her.” I’m calm now, I don’t even want to eat, “she said, and began to cry. .
“It’s good to be home now.
Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine. Eugene Lakatos of Zaporozhye and Mary Ilyushina in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
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