Mass Graves, People Drinking Out of Puddles in Mariupol

The devastation in Mariupol, Ukraine, is unimaginable. It's been under siege from Russia for a week, and residents report there is no water, heat, or electricity. Food is running short, and Russian forces have the city surrounded. On Wednesday, a Russian airstrike hit a children's and maternity hospital in the port city. When someone is killed, residents have been urged to leave them where they fall rather than risk the danger of venturing outside, one woman who recently fled tells the New York Times. "There are just bodies lying in the streets," she says. Mass graves are being planned, with at least 47 people buried in one Wednesday. People are boiling snow for water or drinking from puddles. The mayor says a death toll can't even be determined with any degree of certainty because the attacks never cease. More on the tragic situation:

• Why? The Times, which has much more on the devastation here, explains it this way: "Having failed to defeat the Ukrainian army in the war’s first weeks, and encountering stiff resistance in major cities like Mariupol, Kharkiv and Kyiv, Russian commanders appear to be resorting to tactics used in previous wars in Chechnya and Syria: flattening cities with overwhelming and indiscriminate firepower."

• Location: There's also the fact that Mariupol, just 35 miles from the Russian border, is located in a strategic land corridor between Crimea, the territory Russia annexed in 2014, and the Russia-backed separatist portions of east Ukraine. If Russia controls the city, it can send supplies to forces in the west and cut off Ukrainian shipping from the port.
• 6-year-old dead: A girl reportedly died of dehydration Tuesday after her mother was killed in the attack. The child was reportedly found in the ruins of her home; the building had been shelled, Reuters reports.
• "Apocalyptic": That's the word an aid worker used to describe the situation to Yahoo News, noting that Mariupol is not only cut off from the outside world physically but also digitally, with limited internet connectivity making communication nearly impossible. Relief supplies can't be brought in. A Doctors Without Borders coordinator calls the situation "catastrophic."
• Evacuation difficulties: Negotiations for a ceasefire have fallen apart, and safety corridors for residents have had very limited success due to a lack of cooperation from Russia. Russian forces are said to have shelled areas where civilians were getting ready to board buses out of the city and fired on other emergency corridors. Ukraine’s foreign minister said Russia is “holding 400,000 people hostage” in the city, the Guardian reports.
• No-fly zone: The city's mayor called for a no-fly zone after the maternity hospital bombing. "Our will has not been broken, we will fight to the end. We have motivated soldiers and officers who defend our homeland," he said, per the Hill. "But today we need support. Close the sky over Ukraine."
• "Genocide": Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has also been calling for a no-fly zone, said the bombing of the hospital "is the ultimate evidence that genocide of Ukrainians is happening."
• Walkthrough: CNN has a walkthrough video of the bombed hospital here.
• One of three: Two other hospitals were also bombed Wednesday in Ukraine, the AP reports. Overall, the World Health Organization has confirmed 18 attacks on health facilities and ambulances since Russia invaded, per the AP.

(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)