The port city of Mariupol in the south of Ukraine is surrounded by Russian forces. Its population of more than 400,000 is besieged by heavy shelling. “There has been no light, no heat, and no water now for two full days and we have hardly any food left,” one resident told the BBC.
Their plight comes as the Russian army has seized control of Kherson, also in the south, the first major city to fall. In Kyiv, air raid sirens blare every 15 minutes while the huge armoured column threatening the capital appears to be stalled.
