The situation in Ukraine is very dramatic. Until a few days ago, few people believed that Russia would decide to launch an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Now the country is under intense attack by the Russian army. There is fighting and bombing in many places, and people are fleeing their homes. The situation is most intense in eastern Ukraine. On Thursday afternoon, we spoke with the director of Caritas Mariupol, Rostislav Sprynyuk, about the situation.
You are in Mariupol. What is the situation like there now?
Right now, the housing estates in the east of the city are being shelled, and the shooting is being directed, among other things, at a neighbourhood that was hit back in 2015. Before that, there had been also shelling of smaller villages around Mariupol, and the shooting was continuous for three days, and the targets were residential houses, not military objects.
Mariupol is located in the east of Ukraine, where shelling by Russian missiles has been ongoing since 2015, and today the shelling was even stronger. And they were shelling not only military positions, but civilian buildings as well.
Where is the shelling coming from?
From the separatist territories where Russian troops are now. Now there are reports from a village near Mariupol that Russian tanks are already there.
It must be extremely difficult...
We did notsleep all night, and when they declared war, it was such a ... You know, up to the last moment we believed that the international pressure on Putin would be strong enough that he would back off the attack. Unfortunately, that did nothappen and Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. First into separatist territories, and now a large-scale attack is under way from all sides - from the north from Belarus, from the south from Crimea and here from the east.
The shelling started this morning, but it did not hit residential areas, it was aimed at military positions. They also tried to approach by sea, shelling our troops, but then they moved away into the Sea of Azov. The people woke up in the morning in a state of tension, but there was no panic yet.It did not come until around 10 a.m. People began to withdraw money from ATMs en masse, to stock up on petrol, food and medicine.
At the moment, our army is holding its ground, some places are better, some places worse, but it is holding its ground. But the Russians are attacking both military and civilian targets, it makes no difference to them. It is clear to us that their aim is the destruction of Ukraine. Ukraine and Ukrainians.
What kind of assistance is Caritas Mariupol providing at the moment?
There is not much we can do at the moment with regard to the safety of our staff. We have an evacuation plan in place across the Dnieper River, and we are starting to prepare various types of assistance there. But for the time being we have decided to postpone the evacuation because there are already many refugees from neighbouring villages in the city, who need our help. We are giving them clothes and food. But there is not much because Caritas Mariupol is in charge of social and development projects. Humanitarian projects took place earlier, in 2014 and 2015.
Every day we have a meeting with the local directors of Caritas Ukraine and we talked about suspending all projects except humanitarian ones, because these are the ones people need the most now. First of all, they need food, drinking water, medicine, hygiene supplies. They also need psychological support and the help of health professionals, that is very important because anything can happen.
I suppose what you need most now is money, that you do not need supplies?
Yes, at the moment, through the director of Caritas Ukraine, we have appealed to foreign charities and also to the responsible ministers to provide us with money. Because we can buy everything here. We are not running out of supplies yet, but we need money. The rate of inflation is increasing, all prices have risen, including food, medicine and heating.
If the aggression continues, we will need material aid as well. Generators, medicines, mobile tent camps for refugees, cots. And of course food, drink and clean water, because I have no idea what it would be like without drinking water.
My son has just gone to give blood to the wounded, and I have to say I am worried about him, the artillery is getting closer and closer.
We are in contact with your colleagues in Kiev. The public collection in the Czech Republic has been running since Tuesday and we will be passing the aid through Caritas Ukraine that will distribute it further to the needy places.
Yes, this is exactly what we need in the first moment and in time we will see what else would help us.
Caritas Mariupol will also work in "exile". It will provide help to people in a tent camp, we have prepared a tent equipped with a generator, heating, we will also set up a kitchen. It will be a kind of first detention point for refugees, whom we will send further to safety, to more stable facilities in the west of Ukraine. Unless, of course, the west of Ukraine is also occupied, given that Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk have also been shelled. We do not know now what it will all look like, where the Russian troops will stop.
Do you assume that Russian troops are ready to occupy the area around Mariupol?
Yes, we expect that. We have confidence in our army, but the scenario of occupation is very likely.
In the event of an occupation of Mariupol, are there any plans for any Caritas staff to remain on the ground to provide assistance?
Based on our experience in Donetsk, where Caritas operated in the past, we will not get the status of a humanitarian organization. And if Mariupol is occupied, we will hardly be able to provide aid. But we will help elsewhere where it is needed. Now, of course, we don't know the exact location, we don't know where the front will move, but we will try to help where we can.
Has there been any major movement of refugees from Mariupol to the west?
Yes. Not just from Mariupol, but from all the southern cities, like Mykolaiv or Odessa. There are also departures from the north - Kiev, Zhitomir, and so on. They are all going to the west of Ukraine, to cities like Lviv or Ivano-Frankivsk.
People are leaving large cities of several million people, but also from smaller regional centres. People are also leaving central Ukraine. My son works in Cherkasy in central Ukraine, and people are fleeing from there too. We see bombing everywhere, targeting residential buildings, hospitals...
I don't really know what to call it, I don't have words for it. The horror of war, all the worse because the enemy does not respect any moral principles. They are not only fighting the army, they want to intimidate the population, to cause a humanitarian collapse, to blackmail the Ukrainian government.
I cannot imagine what that is like. You are there, we are here. All we can do is provide the funds and other necessary things and hope that we will meet in better times.
Yes, that's right. Pray for us that everything turns out well.
Media contact
Evžen Diviš, Regional Manager and Deputy Head of Department, Department of Humanitarian Aid and Development Cooperation
E-mail: evzen.divis@charita.cz
Tel: +420 731 646 991