The Siege Of Mariupol: Death, Starvation And Destruction
(ANALYSIS) On June 13, Global Rights Compliance, an international nongovernmental organization, published evidence of Russian and pro-Russian forces using starvation as a method of warfare against Ukrainian civilians during their 85-day siege of Mariupol between February and May 2022.
The new report, entitled “‘The Hope Left Us’: Russia’s Siege, Starvation, and Capture of Mariupol City”, following a 12-month comprehensive investigation, finds that Russian forces “intended to starve civilians as a method of warfare” in the battle for Mariupol. The report analyzed over 1.5 billion square meters of satellite imagery, photographs, videos, official public statements and other digital data and forms part of a wider submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The report was produced by Global Rights Compliance’s Starvation Mobile Justice Team (SMJT), part of the U.K., EU and U.S.-sponsored Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA), which was launched in response to the need of the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) to increase capacity to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes perpetrated since the full-scale invasion by Russian forces in February 2022.
The report found that over the course of the 85-day offensive on Mariupol (Feb. 24 to May 20, 2022), pro-Russian forces systematically attacked objects indispensable to the survival (OIS) of the civilian population, including energy, water, food and distribution points, and health care infrastructure.
Russian forces indiscriminately bombed food distribution points, medical facilities, and agreed-upon humanitarian corridors. At the same time, pro-Russian forces were willfully impeding access to humanitarian aid and denying them access to organized evacuation routes. The report found that this pattern of conduct left experts to conclude that the starvation of civilians in Mariupol by Russian forces was intentionally used as a method of warfare.
Mariupol was one of the first cities to come under Russian attack in the opening weeks of the 2022 invasion. As early as Feb. 27, 2022, Russian forces struck a major powerline blacking out half of Mariupol. This was followed by a four-day onslaught of shelling that fully cut power and gas to over 450,000 Ukrainian residents, exposing them to winter temperatures plummeting to -12.4°C. Water pumping stations were also neutralized, cutting off access to heating and drinking water, forcing civilians to melt snow for drinking water and in some cases drink radiator water or street puddles to avoid dehydration. Over 90% of health care facilities indispensable to civilian survival were damaged or destroyed during the siege, with all 19 of the city’s hospitals impacted by the end of May 2022.
Russian forces are said to have not made any effort to mitigate risk to civilian life or objects and damaged and destroyed 90% of Mariupol’s residential homes in the siege. Similarly, distribution points also came under attack, with at least 22 supermarkets damaged or destroyed despite being used for distributing basic necessities. As reported by Global Rights Compliance, one attack investigated by the SMJT was on the Neptun Swimming Pool Complex, despite satellite imagery showing the clear presence of hundreds of civilians queuing at this distribution point in the days immediately prior.
The same day, the Mariupol Drama Theatre was attacked. At the time, several hundred people were residing in the building. Clear lettering — ДЕТИ (meaning children in Russian) — written in front of the building did not stop the attack. The SMJT’s analysis confirmed that “this lettering was clearly visible from the altitude range from which Russian warplanes would have dropped the involved ammunition and unavoidable to surveying flights.” The analysis of Global Rights Compliance indicates that there was no evidence of any legitimate military targets in the localities.
The report of the Global Rights Compliance attempts to show the true scale and nature of the attack on Mariupol, one of the most serious cases of atrocity crimes in this war aimed at the destruction of the communities.
The report forms part of a wider submission to the ICC. As the ICC continues to look into atrocities committed in Ukraine, the report will help the Office of the Prosecutor to formulate further charges. Considering the ever-growing evidence suggesting hallmarks of the crime of genocide, the question is whether an arrest warrant for genocide will follow — whether for the atrocities in Mariupol, Bucha, Irpin or more broadly.
This piece was republished from Forbes with permission.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO.