Survivors emerge from rubble in Ukraine

Mariupol theatre: 'We knew something terrible would happen'

BBC News, Lviv, Ukraine
By Hugo Bachega, Orysia Khimiak
March 17, 2022

After leaving Mariupol, Kate was headed to the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine, a region that has been largely spared of attacks. "The first day after we managed to get out, I couldn't talk. We all just cried", she said. "But now it feels like there are no tears left. I don't think this pain will ever disappear."

Civilians are said to be emerging alive from the ruins of a theatre that, according to Ukrainian authorities, was bombed by Russia in the city of Mariupol. Despite pictures of devastation at the scene, many who were sheltering there are thought to have survived in a basement that withstood Wednesday's attack.

For 10 days, that basement was a refuge for Kate, a 38-year-old Mariupol native, and her son, who is 17. Their own home, like many others in the besieged city, had been destroyed by Russian attacks, and they thought the Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama was a place where they would be relatively safe.

Mother and son squeezed in the building's dark rooms, corridors and halls with dozens of other families. Some women, Kate said, carried babies that were just four or five months old.

"In the beginning, it was really tough, because we didn't have a well-organised food supply. So on the first two days, adults didn't have any food," Kate, who used to work at the city's zoo shop and did not want to give her full name, said. "We gave food only to the children." They slept on improvised beds made with soft parts of auditorium seats which had been put together on the floor. The seats made of wood, she said, were cut in parts and used as firewood for them to cook. "Around the theatre there wasn't enough trees we could use, and it was too dangerous to go outside".
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There had been a video plea for food so that the people taking shelter there could survive. The Russians used that to target them. There were signs on the grounds on both sides of the theater with so that the Russians would know there were children there. They didn't care. They used it to murder the people inside.

When you look at what they are doing to Ukraine, it is easy to focus on all the evil they are committing. What is harder is to try to focus on the miracles that come out of it.

We cannot do much to help the people suffering such evil acts. We cannot do much to open the eyes of the Russian people so they will see they are being lied to. All we can do is pray they see the truth for themselves.

All the reports, what little there is, are about the Russians supporting what Putin is doing. That's only part of the realty going on there because we've seen the massive protests happening and brave Russians being arrested while trying to stop the slaughter of the Ukrainian people.

We saw the woman holding up a sign on a Russian news broadcast.

And then there are other things like this going on.

PBS NewsHour
As some Russians protest the conflict in Ukraine a former senior Kremlin official has criticized the operations there. This comes after an employee of Russian state television on Monday interrupted a live newscast to demonstrate against the fighting and amid reports that Russia asked China for military assistance. Special correspondent Ryan Chilcote joins Judy Woodruff from Moscow to discuss.
For now, know your limitations and do what you can for the people of Ukraine. Watch the news to a point and then do something else for your own sanity. In closing, also notice the first miracle. Putin thought the would take Ukraine in a few days. It's been a month!