A man walks along a street damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine.
(Picture: AP)Locals have resorted to fighting each other over food supplies in the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Residents have been living without water for more than a week as Russian forces continue to intensify their bombardment of the city in recent days.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that there is no heating and food supplies are running low as temperatures are set to plummet to minus 5C.
Sasha Volkov, deputy head of the Red Cross delegation in the city, said all the city’s shops and pharmacies were “looting four to five days ago”.
Speaking in a satellite phone message from Mariupol, Mr Volkov told AFP: “Some people still have food but I’m not sure how long it will last.
“People started to attack each other for food.
“People started to ruin someone’s car to take the fuel out.”
He said medicine was running low and water had to be fetched from a local stream.
“We still have some storage of potable water,” Mr Volkov said. “When we run out of the stock, we will boil water from the stream. So we are comparatively good compared to others.
“It’s really cold. We still have some fuel for generators so we have electricity for three to four hours a day.
“We have started to get sick, many of us, because of the humidity and cold that we have. We tried to achieve hygiene standards as much as possible but it is not always actually possible.”
Attempts to evacuate civilians in the city have failed, with both Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of ceasefire violations.
Volkov said a black market had emerged which allowed Mariupol residents to buy vegetables but not meat.
Some ICRC workers had managed to collect food to last for a few more days from damaged or destroyed buildings.
International outrage at Mariupol’s deteriorating humanitarian situation grew on Wednesday after an air strike hit a children’s hospital, killing at least three people including a young girl.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the European Union have called the incident a "war crime".
But Russia has said the building was sheltering ultranationalist Ukrainian fighters, describing the attack as a "staged provocation" to stoke anti-Russian sentiment.
