Dear signer of our petition,
thank you for your support and signatures. Over 112,000 people worldwide have signed the petition for a humanitarian airlift. We all agree: The people trapped in Ukraine must be provided with supplies! Preserving their lives is a top priority. How you can help NOW you can read below.
Unfortunately, I have not received any sign of life from my relatives from Mariupol since March 02, 2022. This is the situation of many people who have relatives in Ukraine. The situation in Mariupol is apocalyptic and inhumane (for more information see below). For the past 12 days, people have had no water, no electricity, no heat, no utilities, no gas, and no connection to the outside world. I don't know if my relatives are still alive. One must not give up on the people now and must become politically active IMMEDIATELY. Where there is a will, there is a political solution in this humanitarian disaster.
According to UN figures, the number of refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries has now risen to over two million. At least 406 civilians have been killed since the war began, it said. The actual number of victims is likely to be "considerably higher." We must act now before there are more!
What you can do NOW to help:
Keep up the political pressure: Share the petition on all channels and continue to mark and tag Ms. Truss, Mr. Johnson and Secretary of State for Transport Mr. Shapps (responsible for the rail bridge -> see below for more info). Please help so that a POLITICAL IMPLEMENTATION takes place.
Here is a sample text for your post on social media:
„Ms. Truss, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Shapps, follow the demands of the petition www.change.org/airliftukraine and please find a solution for supplies in Ukraine immediately, be it via an airlift, safe corridors or a humanitarian rail bridge. The people of Ukraine must be kept supplied and their survival with dignity must be ensured."
Thank you for your support! Together we can make a difference!
More background information on the terrible situation in (Eastern) Ukraine and possible solutions:
On the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Eastern Ukraine/Mariupol:
The organization Doctors Without Borders says: "People who are willing and able to flee should be urgently ensured escape from Mariupol and other contested areas in Ukraine - regardless of humanitarian corridors or temporary ceasefires.''
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal held a telephone conversation with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer. He assured to make every effort to organize humanitarian corridors to and from Mariupol.
The government expects concrete support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today (09.03.22). People in Mariupol and other cities remain trapped. They need water, food, and medical assistance. We need to organize the evacuation of civilians together, says Peter Maurer.
The White House rejects the idea of a no-fly zone to protect humanitarian corridors in Ukraine. A no-fly zone is an airspace where all aircraft movements are prohibited for military reasons.
A total of three evacuation attempts for Mariupol's civilian population failed. The escape corridor from Mariupol was mined. The Red Cross Committee checked the escape route and found landmines. According to the mayor, Vadym Boichenko, the civilians are under constant fire. People have to survive without heating and water in sub-zero temperatures. Six-year-old Tanya died under a destroyed house. President Selenskyj is horrified: "A child died of dehydration. In 2022!"
Alex Wade is emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders Ukraine. He reports the following about the situation in Mariupol:
"The situation is the same as it has been for the last few days. This night the shelling was harder and closer. We collected snow and rainwater yesterday to have some water. We tried to get water elsewhere today, but the queue was huge. We wanted to get food from distribution centers, but the schedule and distribution locations are not clear. According to others, several food stores were destroyed by rockets, leftovers were taken by desperate people. Electricity, water, heating and a good cell phone connection are still not available. No one has heard of an evacuation. Pharmacies have run out of medicines."
(Status 3/5, 9:33 a.m.)
Christine Jamet, Médecins Sans Frontières director of operations, today called for safe escape routes to allow civilians, including Médecins Sans Frontières staff and their families, to flee Mariupol.
"Civilians must not be trapped in a war zone," Jamet said. "People seeking safety must be able to do so - without fear of violence."
Source: ZDF_NACHRICHTEN_POLITIK_EVAKUIERUNG_FLUCHTKORRIDORE_UA
For the first time, 723 civilians were rescued from the city of Sumy in a coordinated evacuation. In other cities the attempts failed again.
Escape route from Mariupol attacked, according to NATO.
Confirmed reports of what the situation is like in the other four cities, Kiev, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv, for which a cease-fire has been offered by the Russian side, are not available.
The situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov is considered particularly critical 13 days after the invasion. There, according to the Red Cross, 200,000 people are waiting to get out of the city via various routes. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the situation is catastrophic. Ewan Watson, Red Cross spokesman on Mariupol: "The situation is apocalyptic."
In Mariupol, people reportedly boarded buses bearing the Red Cross sign. In a video address, President Volodymyr Selenskyy said that buses had been sent to Mariupol, but no fixed route had been agreed. Moreover, the buses were said to have taken people to other cities only within Ukraine.
Ukraine: evacuees from Mariupol arrive at the refugee camp in Bezymennoye near Donetsk, Ukraine. According to Ukrainian sources, the refugees were attacked by Russian soldiers in the humanitarian corridor.
NATO said it had credible reports that fleeing civilians had been shot at. Such an act, it said, constituted a war crime. "Such actions (...) are nothing less than genocide." The Foreign Ministry in Kiev accused Russia of a "violation of the ceasefire."
People reportedly trying to leave Irpin and Butcha
Hundreds of civilians, meanwhile, were probably in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin trying to get to safety via an unofficial route, AFP reporters reported. Russia had refused to establish a humanitarian corridor there, according to Ukrainian sources.
In Butcha, just outside Kyiv, an AFP reporter also observed people desperately trying to leave the town. A resident named Anna said the town was on the verge of a "humanitarian catastrophe (...) There is no more gas, no water, no electricity, and food is also running out."
Russia had offered escape routes to Russia and Belarus. Russia had announced local ceasefires on Monday evening, as well as the establishment of humanitarian corridors for civilians from several embattled cities in Ukraine.
However, the escape routes from Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Chernihiv were mostly to lead to Russia or Belarus, from where the Russian army had invaded Ukraine on February 24. Ukraine rejected these escape corridors.
+++ "Rail bridge" for aid supplies to Ukraine
Deutsche Bahn has set up a logistics network by road and rail to transport aid supplies from Germany directly to Ukraine. This will bring thousands of tons of food, drinking water and sanitary items directly to the country by truck and freight train. The logistics teams of DB Cargo, DB Schenker and DB Transa freight forwarding work hand in hand: donations are collected in Germany by truck, packed into containers and finally transported across the border to Ukraine by freight train on DB Cargo's European rail network.
DB has set up a hotline for the rail bridge to Ukraine. Here, especially for companies and large donations, freight can be registered and the pick-up coordinated. The transport is free of charge for donors. The hotline is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays.
Telephone number: +4930-720220640
Mail address: schienenbruecke-ukraine@deutschebahn.com
Sources:
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/evakuierung-fluchtkorridore-ukraine-krieg-russland-100.html
https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/presse/ukraine-mariupol-zivilbevoelkerung