It is not entirely clear how many people still live in Mariupol. Thousands fled, countless died. Those who remained in the city now face the same fate as other areas already conquered by Putin’s troops – a life of Russian occupation and propaganda.
What is Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin (69) doing in Mariupol?
In the port city, after the city was subjected to Russian invaders, concrete measures were taken over the past few days to spread the ideas of the Kremlin, that is, propaganda as quickly as possible.
In short: Russian propaganda in schools and on television, the Ukrainian currency hryvnia will be abolished, from now on payment will be made in rubles. A new administration has been established by Russia.
So Moscow sent three broadcast vans to Mariupol to broadcast state Russian television to residents – Freedom of Expression on Television: Abolished.
Along with this, the rest of the schools have also been occupied by the occupiers. First solution: Russian timetable and extension of the school year to September.
Further measures:
Russian mobile operators take over the network
Pension will be paid in rubles from June 1
Residents (as already in Chersonese and Zaporizhia) can be given Russian passports.
On 21 May, the Russian military said it had taken control of the port city of Mariupol after weeks of siege. The last of more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters surrendered earlier at the Azovstal Steel Plant.
life in russian occupation
Putin’s troops marched in Chersone two months ago.
There has been a message on the online service Telegram that soldiers in Kherson have broken up protests against Russian control. On the other hand, Alexander Kobez, who has been temporarily handed over to Kherson by Moscow, describes the pro-Ukrainian protests as “limited” and “expected”.
A Russian soldier guards a field on Heroes Street in Kherson Photo: Uncredited/DPA
However, residents are very worried. His list of concerns includes instability and wage payments as Ukrainian banks close.
With control of parts of the neighboring region of Kherson and Zaporizhia, the Kremlin seeks to forge a strategic land relationship between the Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
In the city of Chersonese itself, the Russian army is rather discreet. There are several outposts in the surrounding countryside and patrols can be seen near heavily forested areas.
In Skadovsk, a small port town on the Black Sea, 100 kilometers south of the regional capital Kherson, passersby do not want to talk about their lives under Russian control. A single mother, Vera Mironenko, says she had to quit her job in a shop and is living off her savings.
Mironenko complains about the “stratosphere prices” for food, as well as the impossibility of obtaining medicine. “We are waiting for life to return to normal,” she says.
