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Bomb attack on an industrial plant in Mariupol.
The recording of a drone shows what has become a cruel everyday life here.
Images from a private US satellite service show the extent of the devastation in Mariupol.
According to the city council, more than 80 percent of the buildings are said to have been destroyed.
But the Ukrainian military and paramilitary groups are still putting up fierce resistance.
The city is of great importance – for both sides.
Gustav Gressel, military expert:
»It has a symbolic value.
The city has always been hotly contested. In 2014 it was briefly occupied by the Russians, and then it was liberated by the Ukrainians in August.
Then there were all the high-ranking visitors, everyone who wanted to show solidarity with Ukraine, starting with John McCain, up to Habeck in Mariupol.
And the second, of course, is the practical value.
For the southern corridor, between Crimea and occupied Donbass, Mariupol is an important transport and railway junction, the largest port in the Sea of Azov.
So if Russia wants to expand its people's republics onto a land bridge towards Crimea, Mariupol is in the way and that's why the fight for Mariupol is harder than for any other city."
Odessa is 500 kilometers west of Mariupol.
The third largest city in the country is of great strategic importance.
Before the war, almost half of the country's imports and exports went through the port of Odessa.
Without him, Ukraine would lose its most important access to the sea.
Gustav Gressel, military expert:
"If the Ukraine is permanently cut off from the Black Sea, there will of course be considerable economic damage, because the country was dependent on the sea route for exports, and Ukraine's most important export partners were above all countries in Africa, the Middle East and In the Middle East, in the Gulf region and in Asia, the Ukraine was heavily dependent on shipping for its economy.«
The first Russian air raids have already taken place on Odessa, and the population is very afraid that the city could become a second Mariupol.
Volunteers are still being trained on weapons in anticipation of an attack.
Gustav Gressel, military expert:
»At the present time an occupation of Odessa is unlikely.
The forces are not there, they are much too far away.
These are relief attacks so that reserves from Odessa cannot be deployed around Kherson.
But at this point there is no scenario that suggests the Russians could quickly advance to Odessa to encircle it.”
The Russian advance is not only halting in the south, the troops are also making little progress in the area around the capital Kyiv.
Putin's
"
Blitzkrieg
"
is now considered a failure.
Many analysts therefore assume that Putin's focus will shift.
The top priority could no longer be the capture of Kiev, but the destruction of the Ukrainian armed forces in the east of the country.
Experts estimate that most of the Ukrainian troops are stationed here.
Gustav Gressel thinks something else is crucial.
He assumes that a second offensive by the Russian armed forces could soon come - as soon as fresh forces are mobilized.
Gustav Gressel, military expert:
»April first is approaching and April first is a big enlistment date.
And then you would have a second wave to start with.
I basically expect that the Russian side won't go on the offensive again until mid-April.
And until then, Russia is trying to wear down the enemy, that is, by targeted attacks on cities, on civilian infrastructure, on targets that are dear to the enemy, to break the enemy's morale."
Despite the brutality of the Russian attackers against civilian targets, the Ukrainians' staying power seems high.
Both soldiers and fighters as well as the population are still willing to defend their freedom.
