The Last International Journalists In Mariupol.

The Associated Press' Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka rushed to the strategic port city of Mariupol, located between the Donbas and Crimea, on February 23rd when it became clear that war was coming.

They stayed for 20 days and documented events throughout.

Now they have been forced to flee and Mr. Chernov explains what will be lost in their (and all their colleagues) leaving:

...The absence of information in a blockade accomplishes two goals.

Chaos is the first. People don’t know what’s going on, and they panic. At first I couldn’t understand why Mariupol fell apart so quickly. Now I know it was because of the lack of communication.

Impunity is the second goal. With no information coming out of a city, no pictures of demolished buildings and dying children, the Russian forces could do whatever they wanted. If not for us, there would be nothing.

That’s why we took such risks to be able to send the world what we saw, and that’s what made Russia angry enough to hunt us down...


Chernov's words and Maloletka's images (and all of their reportage, much of which is linked to in their piece) are required reading/viewing for those looking for a disinformation-free account of what is actually happening on the ground.

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