Mariupol couple survive on rations in Russia-occupied area
STORY: Sergei and Luidmila Shulgin have become used to the bombardments that has destroyed much of the strategic port city, subject to some of the most intense attacks of the war.
Russia claimed control over the city on April 21 despite hundreds of Ukrainian forces still being left sheltering in the catacombs of a vast steel works.
Sergei and Luidmila, 62 and 67 respectively, are two of the 100,000 civilians that Ukraine says are stranded in the city. The couple spent most of their time sitting in their basement.
"We were scared at the beginning, but now we are laughing - spring is spring,” Sergei told Reuters on Tuesday (May 3).
A resident of the building had been killed after her apartment on the second floor had been hit, Sergei said.
The couple received rations from the Russian forces and have been allowed to evacuate to the southern Russian city of Krasnodar in a week’s times.
“Why should I go there? I'm too old,” Luidmila said, adding “Let them blow me up here - if I deserve it."
