Shelled city in north Ukraine fears becoming 'next Mariupol'
CTV
Just over a month into the invasion, Russia's attack has slowed into a grinding war of attrition as its military tries to pound cities like Chernihiv into submission. Bombings of hospitals and other non-military sites have given rise to war crime allegations.
This is what now passes for life in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine where death is everywhere. It isn't -- yet -- quite as synonymous with atrocious human suffering as the pulverized southern city of Mariupol has become in the 31 days since Russia invaded Ukraine.
But similarly besieged, blockaded and pounded from afar by Russian troops, Chernihiv's remaining residents are terrified that with each blast, each bomb and every additional body that lies uncollected on the streets, they're caught in the same macabre trap of unescapable killings and destruction.
"In basements at night, everyone is talking about one thing: Chernihiv becoming (the) next Mariupol," said 38-year-old resident Ihar Kazmerchak, a linguistics scholar.
He spoke to The Associated Press by cellphone, amid incessant beeps signaling that his battery was dying. The city is without power, running water and heating. At pharmacies, the lists of medicines no longer available grow longer by the day.
