Tatiana Bushlanova

Mariupol, Russian-controlled Ukraine: An elderly resident of Mariupol, Tatiana Bushlanova, is still grappling with the devastation wrought by the conflict in the port city. Despite the cessation of hostilities, the destruction of her home continues to haunt her. In May, she spoke to Reuters amid the remnants of her destroyed residence, even as shells were exploding nearby. As the pensioner tries to come to terms with the gravity of the situation, her story serves as a reminder of the lasting impact of war on civilians.


Mariupol was a top target in what Moscow refers to as the "special military operation" that it launched in Ukraine on February 24 last year due to its advantageous location on the Sea of Azov.

The city was taken over by Russian forces in May when the last Ukrainian defenders fled from the massive Azovstal steelworks' underground tunnels after a nearly three-month siege.

A large portion of Mariupol was already in ruins by that point, and thousands of people had perished in the city, which had about 450,000 inhabitants before the war.

Tatiana, who is still in Mariupol, claimed that the devastation and death that struck the city had made people's hearts more inflexible.

"People suffered a total loss. Now, everyone seems strange and angry. There isn't much kindness around these days, "Before the first anniversary of the war, the 65-year-old woman said in interviews conducted close to her current residence and her old home, which is now nothing but rubble.

She remembered how one of her former neighbours died after an explosion when debris crushed him, another neighbour's son was killed by a shell while going about his business, and a third neighbour had her hand severed in an explosion.

She bemoaned the fact that she and her husband Nikolai, 63, had nowhere to go at the time as she sat by herself on a bench in the courtyard of her demolished apartment building surrounded by blackened walls and collapsed balconies.

Even though there was no electricity, gas, or running water, they clung on for two more months because they were reluctant to leave their 20-year-old home. Their son Yevgeny and his family ran away to Crimea, a peninsula in the Black Sea that Russia annexed in 2014.

"Although we wanted to stay, we also needed to eat. It was terrifying to go outside and cook because things were flying everywhere when we went "She spoke.

They were one of the final ten families to leave the structure.

People have travelled everywhere they could, she said.

She and her husband now occupy an apartment that belonged to a couple named Andrei and Marina who were killed by shelling while the Russian military battled the Ukrainian army to seize control of Mariupol. The apartment is about a kilometre (half a mile) away.

For weeks after their deaths, the young couple lay in makeshift graves outside the building. "Until they were reburied in August, they were buried in the courtyard here the whole time. It was kind of creepy for me," she said. Their cat Alisa continues to live in the apartment.

Bushlanova said life in Mariupol was beginning to improve a little bit now that the city's Russian-installed authorities are constructing some new apartment blocks, though she and her husband are still traumatized by what they've been through.

Tatiana reflected on the cataclysmic changes she had witnessed in the city whose name had come to be associated with death and destruction throughout the world, saying, "Some kind of hope has emerged."

Russian authorities have introduced the rouble currency in the city and switched the schools to the traditional Russian curriculum, which is taught in Russian, and have also announced a significant long-term reconstruction plan for the area.

Tatiana and Nikolai moved in July and made an effort to feel at home in their temporary residence by rearranging salvaged furniture and hanging up the family photos they had managed to save.

Their old apartment building was torn down — "the excavator stood there and took the building down bit by bit" — but the process of receiving compensation is protracted.

A statutory payment of 100,000 roubles ($1,350) was requested by the couple. If they receive the handout, Tatiana said, "we'll find out in 70 days, and if not, they'll probably put us in line for an apartment."

They make do with Tatiana's meagre cleaning salary and their two pensions of 10,000 roubles per month each, which she admitted was challenging given how expensive food had become.

Tatiana declares that they will remain in the city that has been their home for many years because Mariupol is still under Russian control and there are no signs of the conflict coming to an end.

"Please pardon me, but where will we spend the remainder of our lives? No, we won't keep them here "She spoke.

"We long for tranquillity and our own apartment. Right now, that is all we require to survive."

Picture Source: Reuters