“There were 32 dead here”, the painful memory of the bombardments in Mariupol

Will diplomacy be enough to avoid a war between Russia and Ukraine? If a conflict breaks out, some eyes will turn to Mariupol, the major port city in southeastern Ukraine.

Highly strategic, the city of 500,000 inhabitants, located on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov, is surrounded by the separatist Donbass, Russia and Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014. The city was hard hit by deadly attacks in 2015. And the current tension at the borders awakens the traumas.

Anatoly, 70 years old, took us to this working-class district, in the east of the city. He wanted to show us the place where he shares a painful memory with other residents of Mariupol: January 24, 2015.”NOTWe arrive at the bombarded market… If I remember correctly, says Anatoly, it was around 11 o’clock in the morning. There were a lot of people in the market. According to official figures, there were 32 deaths.”

The Ukrainian authorities immediately accused the pro-Russian separatists. Claim denied by the Donetsk rebels. One thing is certain: the rockets fell and Sevtlana, 82, was there. “Rockets were flying overhead, people were hiding under the stalls… In the vegetables, there were shrapnel everywhere. I saw with my own eyes the bodies lying on the ground in the street. It was a nightmare.”

According to Svetlana, “Volodymyr Zelensky is a filthy cheat! Our president has no will. He promised us peace in a week… Where is the peace? Where are our brothers? I can’t see my brother, my sick sister, they’re in Donetsk! Russia does not want war, she has her own land. She doesn’t need anything, she already has everything in abundance!“

This merchant remarks:Look at the traces of shells on this iron door“. These are the scars of the attack. Sveta, 59, says, very moved that “here, there were mums, dads, children, grandfathers, grandmothers… This street from one end to the other was covered in the blood of the victims”.

She does not believe in a new conflict: “What can we say? Peace, yes, peace! The people are guilty of nothing. We are brothers and sisters. The Russians, the Ukrainians, the Belarusians, the Moldavians, the Czechs… Before, we were all united.“

A little further on, a man is begging: on January 24, 2015, the rockets took a leg from Serguei, 33 years old today. And the tensions at the border awaken his trauma: “I’m afraid of war, I’m afraid of not supporting it. I’m scared to death of it all”confides this father of three children.

“My body already bears the marks of the war. I have a feeling, something is going to happen.”

“We’re afraid we won’t wake up tomorrow morning. You know, they say the Ukrainian army is strong, but go ahead! Show me that army!“

The army is nevertheless very present: at the end of the street, there is a checkpoint. Further, about twenty kilometers from Mariupol, it is already the front line, frozen for eight years.