Ukrainian officials highlight Mariupol's acute shortage of water and medicine
Mariupol city officials have drawn attention to the dangerous shortage of medicine and drinking water in the occupied port city.
According to the Mariupol City Council, residents are dying from a "shortage of drugs for cancer patients, people with diabetes, tuberculosis and problems with the thyroid gland."
The city’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, said patients "are at risk and cannot wait for the occupiers to deliver medicines. Their lives are in danger."
"After all, for more than 2 months, the Russian invaders and their agents, the self-proclaimed authorities of Mariupol, have blocked the residents' normal access to drinking water, a sufficient amount of food and medicine," he added.
Russian occupation forces have connected just 502 houses to the water supply in the city of Mariupol, meaning only about 5% of the city’s current population has access to potable water, according to mayoral advisor Petro Andryushchenko.
Ukrainian authorities say around 22,000 of the city’s residents have died since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. Boychenko says at least 10,000 more Mariupol residents will have died from unsanitary conditions and diseases by the end of the year.
“The occupiers have turned Mariupol into a medieval ghetto. The death rate will be appropriate. Without medicine and medical assistance, restoration of the water supply, and proper sewerage, epidemics will break out in the city,” he said.