In devastated Mariupol, a daily struggle to survive

Aid packages distributed in Mariupol are marked with the 'Z' symbol of support for Russia's military campaign in Ukraine

In another life, not so long ago, Inna was a hairdresser. Now she spends her days chasing down food and water, in a struggle to simply survive in the Russian-held Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

"You run to find a water distribution point. After, to where they are handing out bread. Then you line up to get rations," said the 50-year-old, holding two empty water cans.

After a weeks-long siege, Russian and pro-Moscow separatist forces took almost complete control of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine in mid-April.

After living for weeks in underground shelters or shut in at home, Mariupol's residents are emerging to find their once-vibrant port city a devastated ruin.

Shops have been looted and several freshly dug graves can be seen in the grassy alley that runs in the middle of a boulevard.

On the day AFP was in the city, separatist authorities organised aid distribution in front of the pockmarked walls and shattered windows of a local school.

Some 200 people massed behind a military truck as volunteers handed out food packages -- pasta, oil, some preserves -- marked with the letter "Z" that symbolises support for Russia's military campaign in Ukraine. Not far away, two tanker trucks distributed drinkable water.

Residents gathered in front of a building at improvised gas stoves heating pots and teapots, the acrid smell rising into the air. Beside them, clothes were steeping in two big blue barrels turned into makeshift washing machines.

Many residents of the city -- home to about 450,000 people before the conflict -- fled as Russian forces advanced.

"I would like to go, but where?" asked Kristina Burdiuk, a 25-year-old pharmacist heading home with her two young girls, each hugging a large loaf of bread to her chest.

Burdiuk said she saw cars carrying families riddled with bullets when they tried to escape the city at the start of the siege. She does not know who shot them. 

"I am ready to do anything," she said.

Irina, the video game designer, said she cannot work without the internet or phone lines and -- far worse -- cannot reach her loved ones outside the city.

Her only sources of information are a pro-Russian channel she can hear on a neighbour's battery-powered radio, or the rumours that spread among neighbours.

During the aid distribution, a woman of around 60 began questioning an official and soon a group formed around him.

"We are doing our best," said the official, dressed in a camouflage uniform and military cap. "The priority is to ensure security and clean up."

As she prepared to head home from the aid distribution point with food and water, Irina wanted to believe "the worst is over". 

Most of all, she wants communications restored so she can reach out to her twin.

bur/yad/reb

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