Subterraneans: Mariupol Greeks timidly emerge from underground shelters after Russians hammer area

Members of the ethnic Greek minority in Mariupol emerged from underground refuges this morning, some after 72 hours without electricity or water, as the president of the community told Greek television today.

At dawn today, many residents of the city queued up at ATMs, super markets, and gas stations.

About 80 residents of the bombed Greek village of Sartana, where six ethnic Greeks were killed in Russian air attacks, were moved to the Greek consulate in Mariupol according to Greek foreign ministry spokesman Alexandros Papaioannou.

Papaioannou said that Moscow’s contention that the Greeks were killed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis of the infamous Azov Brigade was “fake news”.

One Greek resident told Open television that their houses were targeted.

Papaioannou said that Greek diplomatic authorities arranged for them to be transported to Mariupol, but that there are no plans to transport them to Greece due to security considerations.

He said fewer than 200 ethnic Greeks had requested of the Greek consulates in Odessa and Mariupol to be transported to Greece.

Ukrainian sources told To Vima that they were able to venture out into the besieged city due to the resistance put up by Ukrainian forces the previous night, keeping Russian forces at a distance of 40 kilometres from Mariupol.

Still, looming fear has kept most Ukrainians in subterranean refuges without electricity, including an underground church in one instance.

Media reports from Mariupol this morning carried images of huge queues at supermarket cashiers, in some cases up to 300 people.

Reporting contributed by Nikos Hasapopoulos