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'There is no water and food': Mariupol mayor describes desperate situation

Children walk amid destroyed buildings in Mariupol which is Russian control in eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
Children walk amid destroyed buildings in Mariupol which is Russian control in eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Copyright  AP Photo
Copyright AP Photo
By Anelise Borges
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Our international correspondent Anelise Borges spoke to the mayor of Mariupol, who described the desperate situation in his city.

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After months of fighting, the situation continues to be desperate in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the city's mayor told Euronews.

“People are exhausted by this hostile force which bombed our city for more than two months. They are morally destroyed inside," said Mayor Vadym Boychenko.

"Plus there is no water or food. They don’t live but just survive," Boychenko added.

He said that many want to escape the city that is now under Russian control: "They want to be in Ukraine."

Boychenko says the people stuck in the city are now faced with disease outbreaks because of abandoned decaying bodies.

"On top of these chaotic burial sites, we also have the summer heat. The sewage system does not work. The litter collection does not work either. And, on top of all these things, we have heavy rains in Mariupol," he said.

Mariupol is now under the effective control of authorities installed by Moscow but the mayor, now displaced to another Ukrainian city, believes it will not stay that way. 

"While the citizens of Mariupol are still alive, our Mariupol also lives. We will definitely return to our Ukrainian Mariupol. It will happen this year and we will rebuild new, modern and heroic Mariupol," he said.

"It will be the best city in the world. In a free and democratic continent called Europe".

Watch the full report in the video player above.

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