Russia-Ukraine War

Bay Area Ukrainians Concerned With Situation in Mariupol

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Bay Area families are watching as the city of Mariupol makes its last stand.

The last group of Ukrainian soldiers are holding out in Mariupol as they ignored Russia's ultimatum to surrender or die.

Families across the most dangerous parts of Ukraine are filling up shelters or taking refuge in their bathtubs.

This includes Olga Antonyuk’s aunt. Antonyuk currently works in the Bay Area.

“Once she sent that picture, it was just surreal,” she said.

Antonyuk told NBC Bay Area Sunday that several of her friends and family are still in Ukraine.

“They just try to live their lives and just kind of like praying and hoping that this is going to be over. But there is nothing normal about their lives,” Antonyuk said.

Deeper into the war in Mariupol, Antonyuk’s acquaintance shared a video with her, showing their neighborhood turned to rubble.

“The Russians are turning it into a ruin and it’s just very hard to see,” she said.

Only a couple thousand solders were still standing in Mariupol as of Sunday night. They were also defying Russia’s ultimatum Sunday morning to surrender or die.

Dmytro Kushneruk, the Ukrainian Consul General in San Francisco called the soldiers heroes.

“While the Russians are still occupied, busy trying to attack them. The Russians cannot bring these resources to attack other parts,” he said.

Kushneruk said that Russia has six times more soldiers in Mariupol than Ukraine does and 10 times more heavy artillery.

“And that’s why right now, more and more questions arise, if Russia will decide to use nuclear weapon or not. Because all the other attempts for Russia to intimidate the population, to intimidate the armed forces have no result,” he said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of a new attack in the coming days by Russian troops.

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