Hundreds of thousands face catastrophe in Mariupol

THE DEAD are logged in a handwritten scrawl, each line a tragedy. “21 Park Street, two corpses, man and woman; Central Market, two corpses, one on the road, another in car; 101 Builders Avenue, one corpse, found under a blanket.” There are no names, no next of kin, just lines, and thousands of them. From March 12th the entries become infrequent and chaotic, not because there are fewer new deaths, but because counting them is impossible. The authorities say they have already certified 4,000 dead. A deputy mayor believes the current figure could be 20,000, or more. In truth, no one knows. But clearly it is already a very large number.