Mariupol ‘at risk of major cholera outbreak’

UKRAINE’S southern port of Mariupol is at risk of a major cholera outbreak, according to UK military intelligence, as Russia fails to provide basic services in its occupied territories and locals say the city is still littered with bodies.

It came after city officials and health agencies warned that more than 10,000 people could die if the water-borne disease reached epidemic levels.

There are also concerns that there are critical shortages of medicines in Kherson and other Russian-held areas across the war-torn nation, with Moscow’s puppet administrations struggling.

Summer rain on the shallow mass graves in Mariupol is creating the biggest concern about a disease outbreak.

Most of Mariupol’s pre-war population of 450,000 fled, but about 20,000 people are thought to have died during the Russian siege before its capture.

Much of the infrastructure has been destroyed and there is no electricity or running water. Drinking water contaminated with bacteria from decaying corpses can cause cholera and typhoid.

The MOD yesterday said: “Russia is struggling to provide basic public services to the population in Russianoccupied territories.

“Access to safe drinking water has been inconsistent, while major disruption to telephone and internet services continues,” it added.

“There is likely a critical shortage of medicines in Kherson, while Mariupol is at risk of a major cholera outbreak. ”

In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, said the risk of a cholera outbreak was “very high, like red, red level”.