The siege of Mariupol could be Putin’s template for the rest of Ukraine

Controlling Mariupol allows Russia clear passage from the Russian border to Crimea, writes Mary Dejevsky

What is it about Mariupol that has made it the bloodiest focus of this now month-old war? (AP)

It is, alas, a feature of military conflict that the fate of just one city comes to exemplify a whole war. In just the last 30 years you might identify the besieged cities of Sarajevo, Aleppo – and now Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov in the southeast of Ukraine.

Ninety per cent of this major industrial and port city lies in ruins, say Ukrainian reports. A quarter, and probably more of the 400,000-strong population have left, and many thousands may be dead. Refugees from the city describe apocalyptic scenes, as they relate how, in the space of barely two weeks, all necessities of modern life were lost, from food to electricity to running water. The last to go was the mobile phone signal, leaving just one raised point on the edge of town where calls could be made.

The extent of the disaster may be gauged by the fact that even the Russian side has described “a terrible humanitarian catastrophe”, even as they blame it on “terror” unleashed by the other side. Ukraine had summarily rejected a proposal to surrender, with officials insisting they would fight to the end.