Civilian mortality rates increase in occupied Mariupol.

Civilian mortality from natural causes in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol is on the rise and has surpassed 400 people per week, according to the Ukrainian military's National Resistance Center[1]. This is at least 2.6 times higher than the peak of COVID-19-related deaths. The city's medical system is "practically non-functional," as the Russian forces have apparently redirected most healthcare facilities to serve injured Russian military personnel.

Mariupol had a population of half a million people before the war and was home to the Azovstal steel plant, one of Europe's largest, where Ukrainian fighters held out for weeks in underground tunnels and bunkers before being forced to surrender. Ukrainian military reported based on the information from local partisans, that civilians in Mariupol are unable to receive basic medical assistance. However, medical workers who remain loyal to Ukraine are attempting to provide services to civilians without Russian passports, despite strict prohibitions and physical threats imposed by the Russian forces.

According to UN estimates, 90% of residential buildings in Mariupol were damaged or destroyed, and 350,000 people were forced to leave after Russia attacked in February 2022.

Zelensky: 'There will be no alternative to our steps for de-occupation.' President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized in his evening address on June 18 that Russia's primary focus should be on preparing its society for the consequences of destroying its own future.

Development manager, Canadian correspondent

Olena Goncharova is a development manager and Canadian correspondent for the Kyiv Independent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper's Canadian correspondent in June 2018.

She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master's degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months.

The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

References

1. ^ National Resistance Center (sprotyv.mod.gov.ua)
2. ^ Zelensky: 'There will be no alternative to our steps for de-occupation.'President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized in his evening address on June 18 that Russia's primary focus should be on preparing its society for the consequences of destroying its own future. (kyivindependent.com)