A refugee created a website to search for residents of Mariupol with whom relatives and friends have lost contact

A native of Mariupol, Dmitry Cherepanov, created a website for the townspeople to search for missing loved ones. In a short time, thousands of people visited Cherepanov's website, reports NPR.

Photo: Shutterstock

For weeks, the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has been bombarded by invading Russian forces. Thousands of people died, and many more were evacuated.

The chaos that engulfed the city caused many family members and friends to scatter and lose contact with each other. The whereabouts of many of them are still unknown as the siege of Mariupol continues.

Dmitry Cherepanov, seeing this chaos, saw an urgent need and looked for a way to help. He created the site MRPL life, where Mariupol residents can post information about their own evacuation in case a family member is looking for them. But most importantly, it allows people to post photos and details about missing relatives or friends who lived in Mariupol.

Screenshot from MRPL.life

The site was only launched last week, but Cherepanov says it already has hundreds of posts and thousands of visits.

"It's definitely evolving fast and will hopefully help a lot of people find each other," he said.

Cherepanov lived in the city for 45 years of his life until March 15 this year, when an invading Russian army forced him and his family to flee.

On the subject: Near Kyiv, Russian invaders shot a relative of Navalny: the oppositionist is sure that this is because of the surname

Like millions of others who have fled their homes in Ukraine, Cherepanov and his family have evacuated and now live in Kamyanets-Podilskyi, a city in western Ukraine.

On April 18, Ukraine declared that it would not surrender to Russian troops in Mariupol, and the country's prime minister promised that Ukrainian troops would fight there to the end.

The Russians have long outgunned the Ukrainian forces and appear to be on the verge of taking over the city. But Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told ABC This Week on April 17 that the port city had not yet fallen.

“We will not give up. We will fight absolutely to the end, to victory in this war,” he said.

Thousands of profiles

In such a short time, thousands of people visited Cherepanov's website. More than 10 people have visited the site since its launch about a week ago, Cherepanov said.

As of Tuesday, more than 1700 people have created profiles of fathers, mothers, siblings, children and friends they are looking for. Users post photos, the name of the missing person, the area where the person lived or was last seen, and the date the person disappeared or was last heard from.

The site allows the user to track information about changes in the profile of the person he is looking for. Someone else, upon seeing the post, can comment on the profile or send a note to the user directly.

Cherepanov says he created the site "because there is no summary information or a convenient service on the Internet for finding or posting people that many people are looking for."

He is tech savvy and website building. His main job is the founder and developer of the BlueWeb.Host platform.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

He also created a private museum in Mariupol dedicated to the collection of retro computers. The Russian invasion destroyed the museum and forced Cherepanov and his family to flee.

As the war in Ukraine continues, Cherepanov says he is more than willing to use his talents on a larger scale to help Ukrainians find missing loved ones.

“If such a need arises, I can deploy the site throughout Ukraine in a few hours,” he says. “And if necessary, I am ready to do it.”

Read also on ForumDaily:

Bloomberg told how Putin decided to invade Ukraine and why he does not intend to retreat from it

Mickey Rourke bequeathed all the property to his assistant, who comes from Ukrainian Nikolaev

'I can't deny what is happening in Ukraine': American conductor quit Mariinsky Theater after 15 years of work

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.