Live From Ukraine, March 17: Mariupol Official Says 'Nothing Works' In Besieged City

Valentyna Zakharchuk is a Ukrainian citizen who will provide daily on-the-ground updates of the Russian invasion for Benzinga.

Southeast Ukraine: In Mariupol, the only hospital that still accepts people is on the verge of collapse. Doctors said that disconnecting a medical facility from electricity will be fatal for many patients.

On March 16, Russians dropped a bomb on the Mariupol pool: women and children were hiding there. The number of victims is yet to be ascertained. "The Russians are already beginning to lie, as if there was the headquarters of the Azov regiment. But they themselves know perfectly well that there were only civilians there. Now there under the rubble, among others, pregnant women and women with children. This is pure terrorism!" Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, said on Facebook

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov said "nothing works" in the city in an interview with Forbes Ukraine. 

"There they are killed by the Russians and the fuel runs out. And just a few water utility vehicles delivering water. Almost all the vehicles of the State Emergencies Service were shot, they are not able to go to the fires. The outskirts of the city are closed. Russians don't let us go to active cemeteries. At first they were buried in the central cemetery that had been closed for forty years. Now there are no places. Therefore, in the City Garden. Some people bury them in their yards," deputy mayor of the city Sergei Orlov said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.

In Mariupol, the bomb shelter under the drama theater, which was destroyed by Russians on March 16, withstood the blow.

"After a terrible night of uncertainty, by the morning of the 22nd day of the war, finally, good news from Mariupol! The bomb shelter survived. The rubble began to be dismantled, people are coming out alive!" people’s Deputy Serhiy Taruta said on an official Facebook page. 

Northern Ukraine Suffers Heavy Losses: The Russian military continues to destroy Chernihiv and shelled Kyiv: three houses were destroyed.

"We are suffering heavy losses. Just yesterday, 53 bodies of our citizens, who were killed by the Russian aggressor, arrived at the city's morgues. And we will avenge and kill for each of our citizens," Vyacheslav Chaus, head of the Chernigov State Administration, said on March 17.

At the same time, he said the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to inflict devastating strikes on enemy forces. The governor also said that repair crews in the city to provide people with electricity, water and gas are constantly under fire.

After enemy shelling by Russians in Kyiv, a fire broke out in three houses. This was reported by the State Emergency Service on Wednesday, March 16.