Russian-Backed Militants Have This City in Their Sights Mariupol would give Russia an overland supply route to Crimea

By ZACK BADDORF

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I met Alina Podpovetnaya in a park in downtown Mariupol. There’s a war going on to the east of this Ukrainian port city, and I wanted to know what she thought of the situation.

“It’s fucking crazy,” Podpovetnaya said.

An 18-year-old student at Zaproskie University, Podpovetnaya said she fears the Russian military will attack her hometown in order to create a corridor from Russia to Crimea.

The Ukrainian government, the British government and others predict that Mariupol will be the next city that the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic will attempt to seize from Ukrainian control.

The front line is about 10–15 kilometers to the east — and everyone here is acutely aware of that fact.