For almost three months, until May last year, fighting raged in Mariupol. Tens of thousands had been killed in the port city on the Sea of Azov. Satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed that large parts of Mariupol were completely destroyed. Satellite images from Maxar Technologies show how large parts of Mariupol have been completely destroyed. More than half have left Before the war, Mariupol had around 450,000 inhabitants. Now more than half have left, writes Reuters. 64-year-old Tatiana Busjlanova is one of those who have chosen to stay. She says the deaths and destruction have hardened the hearts of those left behind. – People have lost everything. Everyone is weird in a way. Angry. I don’t see much kindness anymore, she says. An elderly woman walks between the ruins in Mariupol on February 15 this year. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Authorities in Mariupol have begun the demolition of the city’s theater, where Ukrainian authorities say hundreds were killed in a bomb attack in March. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters An elderly man sits by the ruins in Mariupol earlier in February. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Lived in ruins for two months The block of flats where Tatiana Busjlanova lived was destroyed in May last year. Together with her husband Nikolai, she still lived in the ruin where they had had their home for 20 years. Without water and electricity, with blackened walls and broken balconies, the couple continued to live in the remains of the block for two months. His son Yevgenij and his family fled to the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. Tatiana herself said that they had nowhere else to go. She and her family were among the last ten families to move out of the ruins in June last year. Tatiana Busjlanova pats the cat she has taken over from Marina and Andrei. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Took over apartment of dead married couple Tatiana and Nikolai’s block has been demolished. – The excavator stood there and took the building apart piece by piece, she says. Last June, they moved into the apartment of a young couple, Marina and Andrei, who had been killed in an artillery attack. During the first weeks they lived there, the previous residents were buried right outside. – Before they were buried again in August, they were buried in the courtyard. It was creepy, says Tatiana. The young couple’s cat, Alisa, has taken up residence. Tatiana has taken her over. In this cemetery outside Mariupol, the dead are still buried with makeshift crosses. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Dead after the fighting outside Mariupol are still being buried. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Burnt-out train carriages at the Sea of Azov outside Mariupol. Photo: Alexei Alexandrov / AP Hoping for a new apartment Although large parts of Mariupol are still in ruins, Russian authorities have begun reconstruction. A few blocks of flats have been completed and stand side by side with bombed out and burned out houses. It is part of Russification of the city. The ruble is introduced as currency and schools are forced to teach the Russian curriculum in the Russian language. Now the couple hope that they will be among the lucky ones to be allocated one of the new apartments. The Russian occupation authorities have built some new homes which stand in stark contrast to the burned-out block of flats behind. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters NOK 1,350 a month The couple have applied for compensation for the home that was destroyed. The hope is to get 100,000 roubles, probably NOK 13,500. Tatiana has a job as a maid, a job that doesn’t pay much. In addition, the married couple each have a pension of 10,000 rubles – well NOK 1,350 – a month. She says that inflation makes it difficult to manage with the income. After almost a year of war and despair, the demands are not great. – We are waiting for peace and our own apartment. That’s all we need in life, says Tatiana Busjlanova. A woman buys meat at the market in Mariupol on February 16 this year. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Military effects for sale at the market in Mariupol on February 16 this year. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters A woman looks at dried fish at the market in Mariupol. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Fresh advertising posters have been put up at the market in Mariupol. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Will be Tatiana is careful not to say anything about the new rulers in the city. The war seems to last and no one knows how long it will be under Russian control. In any case, she and her husband have no plans to leave the city where they have lived for decades. – Excuse me, but where else would we live our last years? No, we want to live them here, she answers her own question. Only ruins remain of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, barely a year after the fierce fighting. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters
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Living in an apartment in Mariupol for a young married couple who were killed in the war – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
