'It was a massacre': Mariupol residents recall battle for Ukrainian city

A police officer inspects a destroyed area following a Russian missiles attack on Thursday in Fastov, south of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Residents of Mariupol recounted the horrors of the battle for their now devastated city this week as they sifted through the rubble for belongings, cooked meals by the roadside or just stared at the charred shells of buildings all around them.

"It was terrible... like films that show the last days of the planet – the same thing happened here," said Viktoria Nikolayeva, 54, who like many residents stayed with her family in a basement as Russian and Ukrainian forces battled overhead.