Ukrainians resorted to drinking from puddles and radiator batteries as Russia used ruthless starvation-tactics during 85-day siege on city, damning new report reveals

Ukrainian civilians resorted to drinking from puddles and radiators batteries as Russian forces used ruthless starvation tactics during their 85-day siege of Mariupol City, a new report has revealed.

Mariupol was one of the first cities to come under attack when Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine and was under a blockade between February and May 2022.

Experts have now concluded that Russian troops intentionally used the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare during the siege, the Global Rights Compliance has claimed in a new report published Thursday.

The international human rights foundation said a 12-month investigation revealed a 'pattern' of Russia attacking 'critical civilian infrastructure' to prevent Ukrainians from having access to energy, water, food and distribution points, and healthcare.

Investigators allege the Kremlin also obstructed humanitarian evacuation routes and prevent the distribution of aid to trapped civilians as part of a 'ruthless plan to starve the city's population into submission'.

Mariupol came under attack in the opening weeks of Putin's war with Russian forces deliberately attacking energy infrastructure as early as February 27, 2022, a 76-page report released Thursday has claimed.

Investigators allege that Moscow struck a power line, blacking out half of the city, and then carried out a four-day shelling that cut power and gas to over 450,000 residents as winter temperatures reached -12.4°C.

The attack neutralised water pumping stations, investigators have claimed, which cut off access to heating and drinking water.

Citizens were then forced to melt snow for drinking water and in some cases drank radiator water or street puddles to avoid dehydration, the report stated.

The Global Rights compliance, along with international lawyers, open-source intelligence researchers and arms and munitions experts, carried out a 12-month investigation and analysis into 85-day siege in Mariupol.

Investigators analysed more than 1.5 billion square metres of satellite imagery, photographs, videos, official public statements, and other digital data that was collected between May 2022 and February 2024.

Analysts have since concluded Russian forces would 'deliberately attack and destroy' infrastructure to cripple civilians' access to critical resources and aid, while 'simultaneously denying them access to organised evacuation routes'.

Kremlin forces would treat city blocks as military targets and made 'no effort to mitigate risk to civilian life or objects', the report claimed, further alleging that troops damaged and destroyed 90 per cent of the city's residential homes during the siege. 

Ukraine set up distribution points across the city to provide citizens with access to basic necessities, but these also fell under Russian attack, according to the report.

At least 22 supermarkets were damaged or destroyed during the siege despite reportedly having been established distribution points.

Ninty per cent of healthcare facilities in the area were also struck during the blockade, with all 19 of the city's hospitals having been impacted by end of May 2022.

In one attack investigated by the team, satellite imagery revealed that there was a 'clear presence of hundreds of civilians queuing' at the distribution point at the Neptun Swimming Pool Complex just days before it was attacked.

Similarly, investigators allege Russian forces attacked the Mariupol Drama Theatre, where several hundred people were residing, despite signs in Russian indicating children were inside.

Analysis has determined the signage was 'clearly visible from the altitude range from which Russian warplanes would have dropped the involved ammunition and unavoidable to surveying flights', the report states. 

Russian authorities, apparently seeking to justify these attacks, claimed these areas had been overtaken by Ukrainian forces, but analysts found a 'lack of evidence of any legitimate military targets'. 

The report also finds that throughout the siege, 'efforts to alleviate the suffering of civilians were severely obstructed, with agreed-upon evacuation routes and humanitarian corridors subjected to airstrikes and shelling'. 

Catriona Murdoch, Global Rights Compliance Vice President and Director of the Starvation and Humanitarian Crisis Division, said: 'The present report further captures the broader narrative of the siege through the patterned lens of attacks against objects indispensable to survival (OIS) of the civilian population - electricity, heating, drinking water, food, and medical care. 

'It does so because - in the aggregate - the seemingly isolated attacks against OIS, when paired with associated violations and crimes related to the weaponisation of humanitarian aid, the denial of humanitarian access and humanitarian evacuations, filtration, and arrests of humanitarian actors, reveal a deliberately calculated method of warfare carried out by pro-Russian forces who intentionally employed several starvation tactics as a means to an end.' 

G7 agree £39billion loan package for Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateral 

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have agreed to engineer a $50billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight for survival. Interest earned on profits from Russia's frozen central bank assets would be used as collateral.

Details of the deal were being hashed out by G7 leaders at their summit in Italy. The money could reach Kyiv before the end of the year, according to US and French officials who confirmed the agreement before a formal announcement.

Here's how the plan would work:

Where would the money come from?

Most of the money would be in the form of a loan mostly guaranteed by the US government, backed by profits being earned on roughly $300 billion in immobilised Russian assets. The vast majority of that money is held in European Union nations.

A French official said the loan could be 'topped up' with European money or contributions from other countries.

A US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the agreement said the G7 leaders' official statement due out Friday will leave the door open to trying to confiscate the Russian assets entirely.

Why not just give Ukraine the frozen assets?

That's much harder to do.

For more than a year, officials from multiple countries have debated the legality of confiscating the money and sending it to Ukraine.

The US and its allies immediately froze whatever Russian central bank assets they had access to when Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. That basically was money being held in banks outside Russia.

The assets are immobilized and cannot be accessed by Moscow, but they still belong to Russia.

While governments can generally freeze property or funds without difficulty, turning them into forfeited assets that can be used for the benefit of Ukraine requires an extra layer of judicial procedure, including a legal basis and adjudication in a court.

The EU instead has set aside the profits being generated by the frozen assets. That pot of money is easier to access.

Separately, the US this year passed a law called the REPO Act - short for the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act - that allows the Biden administration to seize $5billion in Russian state assets in the US and use them for the benefit of Kyiv. That arrangement is being worked out.

How could the loan be used and how soon?

It will be up to technical experts to work through the details.

The US official said there are certain jurisdictions that prefer to send their money to help with reconstruction and others that prefer to earmark funds for military support.

President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the goal is 'to provide the necessary resources to Ukraine now for its economic energy and other needs so that it's capable of having the resilience necessary to withstand Russia's continuing aggression.'

Another goal is to get the money to Ukraine quickly.

The French official, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to French presidential policy, said the details could be worked out 'very quickly and in any case, the $50billion will be disbursed before the end of 2024.'

Beyond the costs of the war, the needs are great.

The World Bank's latest damage assessment of Ukraine, released in February, estimates that costs for reconstruction and recovery of the nation stand at $486 billion over the next 10 years.

The move to unlock Russia's assets comes after there was a long delay in Washington by Congress in approving military aid for Ukraine.

At an Atlantic Council event previewing the G7 summit, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst, said 'the fact that American funding is not quite reliable is a very important additional reason to go that route.'

Who would be on the hook in the case of a default?

If Russia regained control of its frozen assets or if the immobilized funds were not generating enough interest to pay back the loan, 'then the question of burden-sharing arises,' according to the French official.

Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said last week that there were worries among European finance ministers that their countries 'will be left holding the bag if Ukraine defaults.'