Rescue Trapped Ukrainian Civilians Facing Starvation, Torture, and Slaughter

Recent satellite images from the devastated port city of Mariupol in Ukraine show the crushing reality for the innocent civilians caught in this war’s unforgiving grip. The images appear to depict row upon row (as many as 200) of mass graves. The mayor of the city that has faced some of Russia’s most relentless and brutal assault said an estimated 10,000 citizens have been slaughtered: a number sure to rise as thousands remain trapped inside the city.

If the atrocities uncovered in now-liberated cities like Bucha are any indication, these entrapped men, women, and children are enduring a living hell. When investigators, photographers, and aid workers entered Bucha, they traveled streets littered with people shot and butchered where they stood. Some of the dead were bound (seemingly confirming intercepts from Russian soldiers discussing the ordered execution of prisoners of war and civilians). Survivors detailed harrowing accounts of soldiers forcing them to live in basements with little access to food or water while arbitrary gang rape and torture punctuated the long days. Hospitals, train stations, and other civilian centers have been bombed into oblivion, taking scores of innocents (including children) with them.

Citizens under siege who do try to escape the horrors are the targets of soldiers who shoot them down without mercy, often along supposed humanitarian corridors. Others are allegedly being forcefully deported to so-called “filtration camps” in Russia. A Ukrainian commander in the midst of the Mariupol siege has called for an international evacuation effort to rescue the hundreds trapped at a steel plant and the thousands more currently hiding and fighting for their very lives. Vladimir Putin has already declared victory over the city and instructed soldiers to “not let a fly out” of the steel plant, leaving the fate of countless civilians in limbo.

Sign the petition below to urge global leaders to answer this desperate plea for help.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Biden,

“I have a statement to the world. It may be my last statement, because we have only a few days, or even hours, left…we ask you to take us to the territory of a third country and provide us with security.”

Maj. Serhii Volyna made this urgent call to action just as the world was discovering further devastating evidence of the fate that befell so many of Mariupol’s civilians. The apparent images of hastily dug ditches surrounding the city filled with fallen men, women, and children reinforce why the international community must answer these pleas. If they do not, just listen to more of the daily realities of these besieged people: “we are completely surrounded. It is very difficult to provide them with medical care. They literally rot. They are also suffering from explosions, blasts on them, next to them…this happens all the time. The city is destroyed…we fight to the last, but we have very little time left.”

The major goes on to single out the United States as the best hope for carrying out this critical humanitarian mission. He suggests options ranging from an airlift or ship-based rescue to a ground security effort. Please collaborate with allies in answering this call. Do not let these courageous people run out of time.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: MBC України