The war in Ukraine; Children sheltered in Mariupol drank from rainwater ponds (photos)

Yuliia and her three daughters ran outside the basement where they hid in the besieged city of Mariupol whenever it rained as they were thirsty.

It was not just food that was missing, but in their shelter there was no toilet, shower or electricity.

“They had a small bowl of soup for the three children once a day, as well as a glass of water for the three children to wash and clean,” explains Yuliia.

After the destruction of her home by the bombing, Yuliia and her three daughters – 11, six and three years old – were forced to move into a shared shelter that provided protection but had no food to feed the children.

“They asked her to eat but she tried to give them food before they went to bed,” Natalia said anxiously as she watched from her home in Wales, Britain.

“When it rained they went out to drink from the ponds and the water was very tasty, they filled other containers with it.”

Yuliia consequently had to leave her daughters hidden to seek fresh water.

She points to BBC Wales Investigates that there was a well three miles away, to which he had to pass between the fire of bombs or bombs.

Whereas when her middle daughter was not feeling well there was no doctor and medications to cure her.

“I had money but I could not buy anything because there was none, everything was broken, robbed or destroyed.”

Natalia Roberts with mother Liudmyla in Wales, Britain

Natalia came to Wales five years ago with her husband Dewi, while revealing that she was a school friend with Yuliia and they had always kept in touch.

So Natalia has just followed Yulia’s ‘video diaries’ from the basement where she is staying with her daughters, as her husband has gone to fight on the front line.

The port city of Mariupol has been under siege since March and is already controlled by Russian forces, in addition to the Azovstal metallurgical plant whose tunnels still house hundreds of Ukrainian fighters.

top channel