After months of intense fighting in Ukraine’s Mariupol, the city has finally fallen into Russian control. The city, which is located in a strategically advantageous location for the Russian military, has seen months of brutal conditions, with citizens lacking basic necessities and facing continuous threats to their safety while under siege from Russian forces. 

Mariupol’s defense served as a great source of pride to many Ukrainians. The people’s ability to hold off Russian advances boosted morale among Ukrainian citizens in and out of the country. With its fall, it’s feared morale may decrease, although many Ukrainians commemorate their fellow citizens’ bravery in the face of intense adversity. 

“The main goal was to hold back the enemy, and they did it as long as possible. Thank you to our heroes, our defenders, for holding the fort of Mariupol for such a long time,” the mayor of Mauripol, Vadym Boichenko, said. 

So far, over 200 casualties have been found in the fallen city, making the attack on Mariupol one of the deadliest clashes thus far. Despite the death toll, many have credited those that refused to surrender and drew out the time and resources Russian forces had to dedicate to Mauripol as a heroic way of expending Russian resources, ultimately hailing it as a turning point in the war in the favor of Ukraine. 

Fighting has now escalated in other regions of Ukraine, specifically the Donbas region. The move is speculated to come as an effort to boost morale among Russian troops if they find success in the Donbas, as well as a strategic move due to some existing Russian support in the form of the separtist republics Luhansk and Donetsk, which have already been at odds with Ukrainian forces for years. 

Ukraine is mounting its response to the growing Russian presence in this region with increased military presence of its own, and although the Russian attacks so far have only resulted in minimal gains, the fate of Ukraine remains unknown.