‘Mariupol Is Guernica’: A Greek Consul Lands in Athens With Painful Details of War

ATHENS — Greece’s consul in Mariupol, Manolis Androulakis, marked his arrival at Athens Sunday evening with a brief but harrowing account of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the strategic southern Ukrainian city that has been subjected to intensifying attacks by Russian forces over the past weeks. In a televised statement, Mr. Androulakis said, “I have been dealing with Russia for 20 years … what is happening is a tragedy both for the Ukrainian and the Russian people. … At this moment, noncombatants are being struck, blindly and without restraint.” Mr. Androulakis was trapped in Mariupol, which by most accounts is now completely encircled by Russian troops, for several days and is reportedly the last European diplomat to leave Mariupol. Visibly holding back emotion as he spoke to Greek reporters who had gathered at Athens International Airport for his arrival, he said that “what began from the Russian side as a military operation turned into something else … in military terms, it is a stalemate, but while it is going on civilians are getting hit.” Mariupol is home to many ethnic Greeks, at least 16 of whom have been killed in and around the city since the hostilities began. Mr. Androulakis assisted with evacuations while he was there and stressed that those remaining were still suffering. “Within 24 hours, everything was hit, all infrastructure was lost,” he said. While it was not clear which specific 24-hour period he meant, this likely would have been in the first days of the Russian assault on the city. He pleaded for an immediate ceasefire so that more civilians could be evacuated.“We tried to save as many expatriates as we could,” he said, adding: “What is happening is a tragedy. It is a trauma that will be difficult to heal.”It was not clear if the consul was aware of reports of forced civilian deportations from Mariupol to Russia, but he did say that the people still in the city “did not expect such an attack, everyone is wondering why.”The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe facility where the consul had sought refuge during the siege drew Russian fire at least twice during his sojourn there. Mr. Androulakis’s fraught journey out of war-torn eastern Ukraine back to Greece was made possible by various parties including the office of President Zelensky, Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and two Ukrainian families he did not know beforehand but who temporarily housed him. In his short statement from the airport, which was seen on Greek television tonight, Mr. Androulakis at times looked stunned as he recounted his impressions of the devastation he witnessed, saying with an unnerving credibility that the city will now be added to the list of those ruined by war: “Mariupol is Guernica, it is Grozny, it is Leningrad, it is Aleppo.”

‘Mariupol Is Guernica’: A Greek Consul Lands in Athens With Painful Details of War

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