Mariupol#Language structure

{{See also|Mariupol culture}}

Neolithic burial grounds excavated on the shore of the Sea of Azov[https://books.google.com/books?id=eO3gAAAAMAAJ Bulletin, American School of Prehistoric Research: The Prehistory of Eastern Europe, Alseikaitė], American School of Prehistoric Research, p.46. Harvard University, 1956. Via Google Books, Pennsylvania State University date from the end of the third millennium BCE. Over 120 skeletons have been discovered, with stone and bone instruments, beads, shell-work, and animal teeth.

File:Crimean Khanate 1600.gif in about 1600]]

From the 12th through the 16th century, the area around Mariupol was largely devastated and depopulated by intense conflict between the Crimean Tatars, the Nogay Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Muscovy. By the middle of the 15th century much of the region north of the Black and Azov Seas was annexed by the Crimean Khanate and became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. East of the Dnieper River a desolate steppe stretched to the Sea of Azov, where lack of water made early settlement precarious.LeDonne John P. The territorial reform of the Russian Empire, 1775–1796 [II. The borderlands, 1777–1796]. In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 24 No. 4. October–December 1983. p. 422. Being near the Muravsky Trail exposed it to frequent Crimean–Nogai slave raids and plundering by Tatar tribes, preventing permanent settlement and keeping it sparsely populated, or even entirely uninhabited, under Tatar rule. Hence it was known as the Wild Fields or the 'Deserted Plains' (Campi Deserti in Latin).Magocsi, Paul R. "A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples," p. 197Wilson, Andrew. "The Donbas between Ukraine and Russia: The Use of History in Political Disputes," Journal of Contemporary History 1995 30: 265 "

In this region of Eurasian steppes, the Cossacks emerged as a distinct people in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Below the Dnieper Rapids were the Zaporozhian Cossacks, freebooters organized into small, loosely-knit, and highly mobile groups who were both livestock farmers and nomads. The Cossacks would regularly penetrate the steppe to fish and hunt, as well as for migratory farming and to herd livestock. Their independence from governmental and landowner authority attracted to join them many peasants and serfs fleeing the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Grand Duchy of Moscow.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The Treaty of Constantinople in 1700 further isolated the region, as it stipulated that there should be no settlements or fortifications on the coast of the Azov Sea to the mouth of the Mius River. In 1709, in response to a Cossack alliance with Sweden against Russia, Tsar Peter the Great ordered the liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich, and their complete and permanent expulsion from the area.Magocsi, Paul R. "A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples," p. 197. In 1733, Russia was preparing for a new military campaign against the Ottoman Empire and therefore allowed the return of the Zaporozhians, although the territory officially belonged to Turkey.N. D. Polons’ka –Vasylenko, "The Settlement of Southern Ukraine (1750–1775)," The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., Inc., 1955, p. 16.

File:Francophone map Peter Bergman Kalmius mouth of the river (1702).jpg

Under the Agreement of Lubny of 1734, the Zaporozhians regained all their former lands, and in return, were to serve in the Russian army in war. They were also permitted to build a new stockade{{Clarify|date=April 2022|reason=seems to be a contradiction as the stockade article says it has a defensive wall whereas this sentence says no fortifications}} on the Dnieper River called New Sich, though the terms prohibited them from erecting fortifications. These terms allowed only for living quarters, in Ukrainian called kureni.

Upon their return, the Zaporozhian population in these lands was extremely sparse, so effort to establish a measure of control, they introduced a structure of districts or palankas.Magocsi, Paul R. 2010. "A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its People," University of Toronto Press. Second edition. P. 283. The nearest district to modern Mariupol was the Kalmius District, but its border did not extend to the mouth of the Kalmius River,LeDonne John P. The territorial reform of the Russian Empire, 1775–1796 [II. The borderlands, 1777–1796]. In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 24 No. 4. October–December 1983. pp. 420–422. although this area had been part of its{{clarify|whose?|date=October 2023}} migratory territory. After 1736, the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the Don Cossacks (whose capital was at nearby Novoazovsk) came into conflict over the area, until Tsarina Elizabeth issued a decree in 1746 declaring the Kalmius River the dividing line between the two Cossack hosts.Wilson, Andrew. "The Donbas between Ukraine and Russia: The Use of History in Political Disputes," Journal of Contemporary History 1995 30: 273

Sometime after 1738,Gorbov V.N., Bozhko, R.P., Kushnir V.V. 2013. "Археологические комплексы на территории крепости Кальмиус и ее окрестностий," ("Archaeological complexes on the territory of the Kalmius fortress and its surroundings") Donetsk Archaeological Collection, No. 17, pp. 138–139, 141.Clark, George B. "Irish Soldiers in Europe: 17th – 19th Century," Mercier Press, 12 October 2010. Pp. 272, 274, 276. the treaties of Belgrade and Niš in 1739, in addition to the Russian-Turkish convention of 1741,LeDonne John P. The territorial reform of the Russian Empire, 1775–1796 [II. The borderlands, 1777–1796]. In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 24 No. 4. October–December 1983. p. 420-421 as well as the following likely concurrent land survey of 1743–1746 (resulting in the demarcation decree of 1746), the Zaporzhian Cossacks established a military outpost on "the high promontory on the right bank of the Kalmius river."[http://www.marlibrary.com.ua/downloads/books/saenko.doc Section "Kalmius and the Kalmiusskaya Palanka"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413130629/http://www.marlibrary.com.ua/downloads/books/saenko.doc |date=13 April 2022 }}, referencing A. A. Skalkowski, no citation. Though the details of its construction and history are obscure, excavations have revealed Cossack artifacts, including others, within the enclosure being approximately 120 square meters in the shape of a square.Gorbov V.N., Bozhko, R.P., Kushnir V.V. 2013. "Археологические комплексы на территории крепости Кальмиус и ее окрестностий," ("Archaeological complexes on the territory of the Kalmius fortress and its surroundings") Donetsk Archaeological Collection, No. 17, p. 133 The outpost was likely a modest structure in that it lay within the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the erection of fortifications on the Sea of Azov was prohibited by the Treaty of Niš.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The last Tatar raid, launched in 1769, covered a vast area, overrunning the New Russian Province with a huge army in severe wintertime weather.N. D. Polons’ka –Vasylenko, "The Settlement of Southern Ukraine (1750–1775)," The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., Inc., 1955, p. 278Mikhail Kizilov. "Slave Trade in the Early Modern Crimea From the Perspective of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources". Oxford University., p. 7 with n. 11 The raid destroyed the Kalmius fortifications and burned all the Cossack winter lodgings. In 1770, the Russian government, during the war with Turkey, moved its border with the Crimean Khanate southwest by more than two hundred kilometres. This action initiated the Dnieper fortified line (running from today's Zaporizhzhia to Novopetrovka),[http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Makidonov_01.pdf Reenactor.ru] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319000900/http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Makidonov_01.pdf |date=19 March 2022 }} p. 521 thereby laying claim to the region, including the site of future Mariupol, from the Ottoman Empire.

Following the victory of the Russian forces, the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca eliminated the endemic threat from Crimea.Le Donne, John P. 1983. "The Territorial Reform of the Russian Empire », Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 24, No. 4. Octobre-Décembre 1983. p. 419.Posun’ko, Andriy, "After the Zaporizhzhia. Dissolution, reorganization, and transformation of borderland military in 1775–1835, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 2012, p. 35 In 1775, Zaporizhzhia was incorporated into the New Russian Governorate, and part of the land claimed behind the Dnieper fortified line including modern Mariupol was incorporated in the newly re-established Azov Governorate.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

{{See also|Emigration of Christians from the Crimea (1778)}}

After the Russo-Turkish War from 1768 to 1774, the governor of the Azov Governorate, Vasily A. Chertkov, reported to Grigory Potemkin on 23 February 1776 that ruins of ancient domakhas (homes) had been found in the area, and in 1778 he planned the new town of Pavlovsk.Verenikin, V. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140920161114/http://www.vecherka.com.ua/news.php?full=2433 Yet how old is our city?] Vecherniy Mariupol Newspaper website. However, on 29 September 1779, the city of Marianοpol ({{langx|el|Μαριανόπολη}}) in Kalmius County was founded on the site. For the Russian authorities the city was named after the Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna; its de facto title came from after the Greek settlement of Mariampol, a suburb of Bakhchysarai in Crimea. The name was derived from the Hodegetria icon of the Holy Theotokos and the Virgin Mary.Plotnikov, S. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140920153249/http://lampada.in.ua/2012/08/mariupolskaya-ikona-bozhiey-materi/ Mariupol icon of Theotokos "Hodegetria"]. Saint-Trinity Temple of Mariupol website. 9 August 2012Dzhuvaha, V. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140920153714/http://www.istpravda.com.ua/articles/2011/02/17/25350/ One of the first deportation of the Empire. How Crimean Greeks populated Wild Fields]. Ukrainska Pravda. 17 February 2011 Subsequently, in 1780, Russian authorities forcibly relocated many Orthodox Greeks from Crimea to the Mariupol area, in what is known as the Emigration of Christians from the Crimea.[http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?Z21ID=&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Krimski_Tatari Crimean Tatars (КРИМСЬКІ ТАТАРИ)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325054546/http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?Z21ID=&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Krimski_Tatari |date=25 March 2022 }}. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine.

In 1782, Mariupol was an administrative seat of its county in the Azov Governorate of the Russian Empire, with 2,948 inhabitants. In the early 19th century, a customs house, a church-parish school, a port authority building, a county religious school, and two privately founded girls' schools were built. By the 1850s the population had grown to 4,600 and the city had 120 shops and 15 wine cellars. In 1869, consuls and vice-consuls of Prussia, Sweden, Norway, Austria-Hungary, the Roman States, Italy, and France established their representative offices in Mariupol.{{Cite web|url=http://ri-urbanhistory.org.ua/library/konstantinova-liman/European_Vector_of_the_Northern_Azov.%20British%20Consular%20Reports.pdf|title=Victoria Konstantinova, Igor Lyman, Anastasiya Ignatova, European Vector of the Northern Azov in the Imperial Period: British Consular Reports about Italian Shipping (Berdiansk: Tkachuk O.V., 2016), 184 p.|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-date=31 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331225125/http://ri-urbanhistory.org.ua/library/konstantinova-liman/European_Vector_of_the_Northern_Azov.%20British%20Consular%20Reports.pdf|url-status=live}}Igor Lyman, Victoria Konstantinova. German Consuls in the Northern Azov Region (Dnipro: LIRA, 2018), 500 p.

File:Мариуполь. Улица Екатерининская. 1910.jpg

After the construction of the railway line from Yuzovka (later Stalino and Donetsk) to Mariupol in 1882, much of the wheat grown in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate and coal from the Donets Basin were exported via the port of Mariupol (the second largest in the South Russian Empire after Odesa), which served as a key funding source for opening a hospital, public library, electric power station and urban water supply system.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Mariupol remained a local trading centre until 1898, when the Belgian subsidiary SA Providence Russe opened a steelworks in Sartana, a village near Mariupol (now the Ilyich Steel & Iron Works). The company incurred heavy losses and by 1902 was bankrupt, owing 6 million francs to the Providence company and needing to be re-financed by the Banque de l'Union Parisienne.{{Cite book |last=John P. McKay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJHxs-MtU2oC |title=Pioneers for profit; foreign entrepreneurship and Russian industrialization, 1885–1913 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1970 |isbn=9780226559926 |pages=170, 230, 393 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-date=3 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083341/https://books.google.com/books?id=hJHxs-MtU2oC |url-status=live }}

The mills brought cultural diversity to Mariupol as immigrants, mostly peasants from all over the empire, moved to the city looking for a job and a better life. The number of workers increased to 5,400.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In 1914, the population of Mariupol reached 58,000. However, the period from 1917 onwards saw a continuous decline in population and industry due to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Russian Civil War. In 1933, a new steelworks (Azovstal) was built along the Kalmius River.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Image:Пам'ятник жертвам фашизму і військовополоненим.JPG

During World War II, the city was under German military occupation from 8 October 1941, to 10 September 1943. During this time, the city suffered tremendous material damage and great loss of life. The Germans shot approximately 10,000 inhabitants,{{Cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/international/article-705570|title=More Mariupol residents died in Russian invasion than under Nazi occupation - mayor|date=1 May 2022|access-date=27 January 2023|archive-date=3 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083341/https://www.jpost.com/international/article-705570|url-status=live}}{{better source needed|date=January 2023}} sent nearly 50,000 young men and girls as forced laborers to Germany and deported 36,000 prisoners to concentration camps.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

During the occupation, the Germans focused on "the complete and quick destruction" of Mariupol's Jewish population, as part of the Holocaust. The execution of the Jews of Mariupol was carried out by Sonderkommando 10A, which was part of Einsatzgruppe D. The leader was Obersturmbannführer Heinz Seetzen.(Мариуполь еще не был занят, а уже было запланировано, что казни евреев в городе будут проведены зондеркомандой 10А, входившей в айнзацгруппу Д. Начальником команды был оберштурмбанфюрер Гейнц Зеетцен, даже среди офицеров карательных отрядов известный беспощадностью и жестокостью при исполнении особого приказа фюрера.[https://stengazeta.net/?p=10004317 история гибели евреев мариуполя. Мариуполь еще не был занят, а уже было запланировано, что казни евреев в городе будут проведены зондеркомандой 10А ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405034815/https://stengazeta.net/?p=10004317 |date=5 April 2022 }}) The Germans shot about 8,000 Mariupol Jews from 20 October 1941, to 21 October 1941. By 21 November 1941, Mariupol was declared Jew-free.

File:Мемориальный комплекс "Менора".jpg"|thumb]]

The "Menorah memorial", or officially, the Mariupol Memorial to the Murdered Jews{{Cite web|url=https://www.shukach.com/ru/node/69914|title=Шукач | Мемориальный комплекс "Менора" в с.Бердянское (Мангушский район)|website=www.shukach.com|access-date=27 June 2022|archive-date=29 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629142140/https://www.shukach.com/ru/node/69914|url-status=live}} is installed in a suburb of Mariupol in memory to the murdered Jews of the city.https://heritage.toolforge.org/api/api.php?action=search&format=html&srcountry=ua&srlang=uk&srid=99-142-3901&props=image%7Cname%7Caddress%7Cmunicipalityd {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629141802/https://heritage.toolforge.org/api/api.php?action=search&format=html&srcountry=ua&srlang=uk&srid=99-142-3901&props=image%7Cname%7Caddress%7Cmunicipalityd |date=29 June 2022 }} It is a cultural property of a historical place indexed in the Ukrainian heritage register (Special Awards: Єврейська спадщина) under the reference 99-142-3901.{{Cite web|url=https://ujew.com.ua/index/objects/doneczkaya-oblast/mariupol/memorialnyij-pamyatnik-menora-v-g.-mariupol|title=Мемориальный памятник "Менора" г. Мариуполь|website=ujew.com.ua}} The work consists of a seven-pointed menorah, a Star of David and two commemorative steles with inscriptions in Russian:{{Cite web |url=https://ujew.com.ua/objects/doneczkaya-oblast/mariupol/memorialnyij-pamyatnik-menora-v-g.-mariupol |title= Мемориальный памятник "Менора" г. Мариуполь |access-date=27 June 2022 |archive-date=29 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629142205/https://ujew.com.ua/objects/doneczkaya-oblast/mariupol/memorialnyij-pamyatnik-menora-v-g.-mariupol |url-status=live }}

{{blockquote|Victims of the fascist genocide were shot here – the Jews of Mariupol. October 1941. May their souls be connected with the living{{efn|{{langx|ru|Здесь расстреляны жертвы фашистского геноцида – евреи Мариуполя. Октябрь 1941 года. Пусть их души будут связаны с живыми}}}}

}}

{{blockquote|I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name preferable to sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name” (Isaiah 56:5)}}

The Choral Synagogue of Mariupol was reportedly undamaged during the hostilities. Reportedly, the Germans opened a hospital in the building, and when they retreated, tried to set fire to it.{{cite web |title=Remembrance of Culture: Mariupol Synagogue |url=https://mariupol-future.com.ua/ru/pamyatka-kultury-mariupolskaya-sinagoga |website=Mariupol Future |access-date=21 March 2022 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423015738/https://mariupol-future.com.ua/ru/pamyatka-kultury-mariupolskaya-sinagoga |url-status=live }}

The Germans operated four transit camps for prisoners of war in Mariupol, consecutively Dulag 152 in 1941–1942, Dulag 172 in 1942, Dulag 190 in 1942–1943 and Dulag 201 in 1943, as well a subcamp of the Stalag 368 POW camp in 1943.{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|pages=90, 96, 103, 106, 373|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}} Mariupol was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on 10 September 1943.{{Cite web |title=Mariupol |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=493 |access-date=19 March 2022 |publisher=Yad Vashem |archive-date=3 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203221758/https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=493 |url-status=live }}

In 1948, Mariupol was renamed "Zhdanov", after the recently deceased close Stalin ally Andrei Zhdanov, who had been born in the city. The historic name of the city "Mariupol" was restored in 1989 after a popular grassroots movement advocated for the name change.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mariupol|title=Mariupol|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=29 January 2023|archive-date=29 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129191138/https://www.britannica.com/place/Mariupol|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Battle of Mariupol (2014)|Offensive on Mariupol (September 2014)|January 2015 Mariupol rocket attack}}

File:Burnt-out police station in Mariupol.jpg

Following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity in 2014, pro-Russian movements and protests erupted across eastern Ukraine, including Mariupol. This unrest later evolved into the Russo-Ukrainian War between the Ukrainian government and Russia together with the separatist forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). In May of that year, a battle between the two sides broke out in Mariupol after it briefly came under DPR control.{{cite news |last=Blair |first=David |date=10 May 2014 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10822396/Ukraine-Security-forces-abandon-Mariupol-ahead-of-referendum.html |title=Ukraine: Security forces abandon Mariupol ahead of referendum |work=Telegraph.co.uk. |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-date=19 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219214326/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10822396/Ukraine-Security-forces-abandon-Mariupol-ahead-of-referendum.html |url-status=live }} On 13 June 2014, the city was recaptured by government forces,{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-urkaine-crisis-mariupol-idUSKBN0EO0KP20140613|title=Ukrainian forces reclaim port city from rebels|date=13 June 2014|first=Aleksandar|last=Vasovic|access-date=29 January 2023|archive-date=10 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010163756/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/13/us-urkaine-crisis-mariupol-idUSKBN0EO0KP20140613|url-status=live}} and, in June 2015, Mariupol was proclaimed the temporary administrative centre of Donetsk Oblast until the city of Donetsk could be recaptured by the Ukrainian forces.{{Cite web |title=The President instructed the Head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration to relocate temporarily the administration office to Mariupol |url=http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/30513.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318013353/http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/30513.html |archive-date=18 March 2015 |access-date=9 February 2015 |website=president.gov.ua}}{{primary source inline|date=January 2023}}

The city remained peaceful until the end of August 2014, when DPR separatists together with a detachment of the Russian Armed Forces captured Novoazovsk, located {{convert|45|km|mi|order=out}} east of Mariupol near the Russo-Ukrainian border.{{Cite web |date=28 August 2014 |title=Russia opens 3rd front with a new offensive: Ukrainian, Western officials |url=http://www.cnbc.com/id/101951821 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828041143/http://www.cnbc.com/id/101951821 |archive-date=28 August 2014 |access-date=20 June 2022 |website=CNBC}} This followed an offensive by pro-Russian forces from the east, which came within {{convert|10|mi|km|order=flip}} of Mariupol, before an overnight counter-offensive pushed the separatists away from the city.{{Cite news |date=21 November 2014 |title=U.S. Weapons Aren't Smart for Ukraine |work=Bloomberg |url=http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-11-21/us-weapons-arent-smart-for-ukraine |access-date=26 November 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055640/http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-11-21/us-weapons-arent-smart-for-ukraine |url-status=live }} In September, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire, halting that offensive. Minor skirmishes continued on the outskirts of Mariupol in the following months.

File:Rocket attack on Mariupol (7).jpg

A rocket attack on Mariupol was launched on 24 January 2015 by the Donetsk People's Republic,{{Cite web |date=24 January 2015 |title=Rockets fired on Ukraine's Mariupol from rebel territory: OSCE |url=https://news.yahoo.com/rockets-fired-ukraines-mariupol-rebel-territory-osce-185217414.html |access-date=9 February 2015 |website=Yahoo News |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324024736/https://news.yahoo.com/rockets-fired-ukraines-mariupol-rebel-territory-osce-185217414.html |url-status=live }} from the village of Shyrokyne around {{convert|12|km|mi|order=out}} east of Mariupol city limits.{{cite news|url=https://euromaidanpress.com/2019/12/03/shyrokyne-ruined-front-line-village-and-people-who-still-hope-to-return-home/|title=Shyrokyne: Ruined front-line village and people who still hope to return home|year=2019|access-date=29 January 2023|archive-date=3 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083845/https://euromaidanpress.com/2019/12/03/shyrokyne-ruined-front-line-village-and-people-who-still-hope-to-return-home/|url-status=live}} Grad rockets fired by separatist forces hit residential areas of Mariupol, killing at least 30 people.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/24/ukraine-crisis-dozens-die-rebels-shell-mariupol|date=24 January 2015|access-date=29 January 2023|first=Shaun|last=Walker|title=Ukraine crisis: dozens die as rebels shell Mariupol|archive-date=3 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083845/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/24/ukraine-crisis-dozens-die-rebels-shell-mariupol|url-status=live}} A Bellingcat investigative team concluded that the shelling was instructed, directed and supervised by Russian military commanders in active service with the Russian Ministry of Defence.{{Cite web |date=10 May 2018 |title=Full Report: Russian Officers and Militants Identified as Perpetrators of the January 2015 Mariupol Artillery Strike |url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/05/10/full-report-russian-officers-militants-identified-perpetrators-january-2015-mariupol-artillery-strike/ |access-date=14 February 2022 |archive-date=9 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409060749/https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/05/10/full-report-russian-officers-militants-identified-perpetrators-january-2015-mariupol-artillery-strike/ |url-status=live }} The attack exposed the city's vulnerability to separatist attacks. As a result, in February 2015, Ukrainian forces launched an surprise assault on Shyrokyne,{{Cite news |date=10 February 2015 |title=Ukrainian forces launch offensive near Mariupol, east Ukraine: Kiev |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-military-idUSKBN0LE0SF20150210 |access-date=26 April 2022 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424222920/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-military-idUSKBN0LE0SF20150210 |url-status=live }} forcing the separatists out from Shyrokyne and neighbouring villages by July 2015.{{Cite news |date=3 July 2015 |title=Rebels withdraw from key frontline village: Kiev |work=Daily Star |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2015/Jul-03/305035-rebels-withdraw-from-key-frontline-village-kiev.ashx |url-status=dead |access-date=26 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001002524/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2015/Jul-03/305035-rebels-withdraw-from-key-frontline-village-kiev.ashx |archive-date=1 October 2015}}

In May 2018, the Crimean Bridge was opened, linking mainland Russia to Crimea, which had been annexed in 2014 in the opening stages of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Russia "dramatically increased" the number of armed vessels in the Kerch Strait in 2018, and cargo ships bound for Mariupol found themselves subject to inspections by Russian authorities, resulting in delays of up to a week. Therefore, Mariupol port workers were put on a four-day week schedule.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46345853|title=Why Ukraine-Russia sea clash is fraught with risk|work=BBC News|date=27 November 2018|first=Jonah|last=Fisher|access-date=27 November 2018|archive-date=5 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205004855/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46345853|url-status=live}} On 26 October 2018, The Globe and Mail reported that the bridge had reduced Ukrainian shipping from its Azov Sea ports (including Mariupol) by about 25%.[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-putins-bridge-over-troubled-waters/ Putin's bridge over troubled waters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119135649/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-putins-bridge-over-troubled-waters/ |date=19 January 2019 }}, The Globe and Mail (26 October 2018)

{{Main|Siege of Mariupol}}

During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine of 2022, Mariupol was a strategic target for Russian forces and their proxies.{{cite web |date=1 March 2022 |title=The Azov Sea, symbolic prize of Russia-Ukraine war |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220301-the-azov-sea-symbolic-prize-of-russia-ukraine-war |access-date=13 March 2022 |website=France 24 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313004603/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220301-the-azov-sea-symbolic-prize-of-russia-ukraine-war |url-status=live }} It came under artillery bombardment the day the invasion began,{{cite news|last=Vasovic|first=Aleksandar|date=24 February 2022|title=Port city of Mariupol comes under fire after Russia invades Ukraine|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/strategic-city-mariupol-wakes-blasts-russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24/|access-date=25 February 2022|archive-date=26 February 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220226011024/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/strategic-city-mariupol-wakes-blasts-russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24/|url-status=live}} and was placed under siege by Russian forces.{{cite news|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/31/timeline-russias-siege-of-ukraines-port-city-of-mariupol#:~:text=On%20the%20Sea%20of%20Azov,the%20fighting%2C%20with%20few%20supplies.|title=Timeline: Russia's siege of Ukraine's Mariupol|date=31 March 2022|access-date=27 January 2023|archive-date=31 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331192358/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/31/timeline-russias-siege-of-ukraines-port-city-of-mariupol#:~:text=On%20the%20Sea%20of%20Azov,the%20fighting%2C%20with%20few%20supplies.|url-status=live}} By early March, a severe humanitarian crisis developed in the city,{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-e4ccdd9cf82e868ad8854f6f97cadb27 |title=Live updates: Zelenskyy vows to keep negotiating with Russia. The latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war: (Section titled "Geneva" NOTE there are two sections with the same name— "Geneva" SEE THE FIRST) |author= |date=14 March 2022 |website=Apneas.com |agency=Associated Press |access-date=14 March 2022 |quote= |archive-date=14 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314012106/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-e4ccdd9cf82e868ad8854f6f97cadb27 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=13 March 2022 |title=Ukraine: ICRC calls for urgent solution to save lives and prevent worst-case scenario in Mariupol |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/document/ukraine-conflict-icrc-urgent-safe-passage-save-lives-mariupol |access-date=19 March 2022 |website=International Committee of the Red Cross |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324043605/https://www.icrc.org/en/document/ukraine-conflict-icrc-urgent-safe-passage-save-lives-mariupol |url-status=live }} which a Red Cross worker later described as "apocalyptic", citing food shortages and severe damage to infrastructure and access to sanitation.{{Cite web |title=Aid workers describe 'apocalyptic' scenes in Mariupol, a Ukrainian city under siege |url=https://news.yahoo.com/aid-workers-describe-apocalyptic-scenes-in-mariupol-a-ukrainian-city-under-siege-182829836.html |access-date=22 March 2022 |website=news.yahoo.com |date=9 March 2022 |language=en-US |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328234346/https://news.yahoo.com/aid-workers-describe-apocalyptic-scenes-in-mariupol-a-ukrainian-city-under-siege-182829836.html |url-status=live }} The siege was also marked by numerous war crimes committed by Russian forces,{{Cite web |date=25 May 2022 |title=Putin's Mariupol Massacre is one of the 21st century's worst war crimes |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putins-mariupol-massacre-is-one-the-worst-war-crimes-of-the-21st-century/ |access-date=27 June 2022 |website=Atlantic Council |language=en-US |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525011834/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putins-mariupol-massacre-is-one-the-worst-war-crimes-of-the-21st-century/ |url-status=live }} most notably Russian airstrikes on a maternity hospital{{Cite web |last=Sandford |first=Alasdair |date=10 March 2022 |title=More than 1.9 million internally displaced in Ukraine, says UN |url=https://www.euronews.com/2022/03/10/ukraine-war-zelenskyy-condemns-russia-war-crime-over-mariupol-hospital-airstrike |access-date=28 April 2022 |website=euronews |language=en |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220310154130/https://www.euronews.com/2022/03/10/ukraine-war-zelenskyy-condemns-russia-war-crime-over-mariupol-hospital-airstrike |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last1=Sangal |first1=Aditi |last2=Vogt |first2=Adrienne |last3=Wagner |first3=Meg |last4=Ramsay |first4=George |last5=Guy |first5=Jack |last6=Regan |first6=Helen |date=10 March 2022 |title=Russian forces bombed a maternity and children's hospital. Here's what we know about the siege of Mariupol |language=en |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-10-22/h_6c63aaf57789d7938ebe1facf22628e7 |url-status=live |access-date=11 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310115734/https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-10-22/h_6c63aaf57789d7938ebe1facf22628e7 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |quote=Police in the Donetsk region said according to preliminary information at least 17 people were injured, including mothers and staff. Ukraine's President said authorities were sifting through the rubble looking for victims.}} and a drama theater serving as an air raid shelter for hundreds of civilians.{{cite web | title= Ukraine: Mariupol Theater Hit by Russian Attack Sheltered Hundreds | website= Human Rights Watch | date= 16 March 2022 | url= https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/16/ukraine-mariupol-theater-hit-russian-attack-sheltered-hundreds# | access-date= 16 March 2022 | archive-url= https://archive.today/20220317020221/https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/16/ukraine-mariupol-theater-hit-russian-attack-sheltered-hundreds%23 | archive-date= 17 March 2022 | url-status= live }}

File:Бої за Азовсталь.jpg

By late April, Russian and separatist troops had pushed deep into most of the city, separating the last Ukrainian troops from the few pockets of Ukrainian troops retreating into the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, which contains a complex of bunkers and tunnels which could even resist a nuclear bombing.{{Cite news |last1=Schwirtz |first1=Michael |last2=Engelbrecht |first2=Cora |last3=Kramer |first3=Andrew E. |date=19 April 2022 |title=Despair in Mariupol's last stronghold: 'They're bombing us with everything' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/world/europe/mariupol-azovstal-steel-plant.html |access-date=22 April 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=26 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426152800/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/world/europe/mariupol-azovstal-steel-plant.html |url-status=live }} Ukrainian troops in Azovstal held out until 16 May 2022, when its last troops from the Azovstal Steel Plant surrendered and the city fell into Russian control.{{Cite news |last1=Hopkins |first1=Valerie |last2=Nechepurenko |first2=Ivan |last3=Santora |first3=Marc |date=16 May 2022 |title=The Ukrainian authorities declare an end to the combat mission in Mariupol after weeks of Russian siege.

|language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/world/europe/azovstal-mariupol.html

|access-date=17 May 2022 |issn=0362-4331

|archive-date=16 May 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220516233043/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/world/europe/azovstal-mariupol.html |url-status=live }}

• {{cite web

|date=17 May 2022 |title=Hundreds of Ukrainian troops evacuated from Mariupol steelworks after 82-day assault |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/16/hundreds-of-ukrainian-troops-evacuated-from-azovstal-steelworks-after-82-day-assault

|access-date=17 May 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en

|archive-date=16 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516223642/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/16/hundreds-of-ukrainian-troops-evacuated-from-azovstal-steelworks-after-82-day-assault

|url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Минобороны показало кадры сдачи в плен украинских военных с "Азовстали" |url=https://www.rbc.ru/politics/17/05/2022/628387f09a79477b17a88c5c

|access-date=17 May 2022 |website=РБК |date=17 May 2022 |language=ru |archive-date=17 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517115730/https://www.rbc.ru/politics/17/05/2022/628387f09a79477b17a88c5c

|url-status=live }}

• {{cite web |title=UPDATE 3-Azovstal siege ends as hundreds of Ukrainian fighters surrender – Reuters witness |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-russia-says-more-250-093824114.html |access-date=18 May 2022 |website=finance.yahoo.com |date=17 May 2022 |language=en-US |archive-date=17 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517223155/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-russia-says-more-250-093824114.html |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web

|title=Fate of hundreds of Ukrainian fighters uncertain after surrender |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/17/russia-says-mariupol-plant-fighters-surrendered-fate-uncertain |access-date=18 May 2022 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en

|archive-date=17 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517143723/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/17/russia-says-mariupol-plant-fighters-surrendered-fate-uncertain

|url-status=live

}}

When the fighting stopped, "as many as 90%" of residential buildings in Mariupol had been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations (UN){{cite news

|url=https://egyptindependent.com/un-says-more-than-1300-civilians-killed-in-mariupol-but-true-toll-likely-thousands-higher/

|title=UN says more than 1,300 civilians killed in Mariupol — but true toll "likely thousands higher"

|first=Mick

|last=Krever

|date=17 June 2022

|access-date=27 January 2023

|archive-date=20 June 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620185808/https://egyptindependent.com/un-says-more-than-1300-civilians-killed-in-mariupol-but-true-toll-likely-thousands-higher/

|url-status=live}} and Ukrainian authorities.{{Cite web

|last=Patel-Carstairs

|first=Sunita

|date=18 March 2022 |title=Ukraine war: Videos show apocalyptic destruction in Mariupol as Russia says it is 'tightening its encirclement' |url=https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-videos-show-apocalyptic-destruction-in-mariupol-as-russia-says-it-is-tightening-the-noose-12569115

|access-date=20 March 2022 |website=Sky News |publisher=Sky New

|archive-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320201000/https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-videos-show-apocalyptic-destruction-in-mariupol-as-russia-says-it-is-tightening-the-noose-12569115

|url-status=live }}

} Estimates for the number of civilian dead ranged from the UN's list of {{formatnum:1348}} confirmed deaths

{{Cite web

|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/06/high-commissioner-updates-human-rights-council-mariupol-ukraine

|title=High Commissioner updates the Human Rights Council on Mariupol, Ukraine

|website=OHCHR|access-date=27 January 2023|archive-date=16 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616180618/https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/06/high-commissioner-updates-human-rights-council-mariupol-ukraine

|url-status=live

}}

{{Cite web

|url=https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-06-17-22#h_44f071da9d6cc467bc1c322ce18aa481|title=UN says more than 1,300 civilians killed in Mariupol — but true toll "likely thousands higher"

|first1=Helen

|last1=Regan

|first2=Hafsa

|last2=Khalil

|first3=Jack

|last3=Guy

|first4=Ed

|last4=Upright

|first5=Elise

|last5=Hammond

|first6=Adrienne

|last6=Vogt

|first7=Aditi

|last7=Sangal

|date=17 June 2022

|website=CNN

|access-date=27 January 2023

|archive-date=17 June 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617103108/https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-06-17-22/h_44f071da9d6cc467bc1c322ce18aa481

|url-status=live}}{{Cite web

|url=https://egyptindependent.com/un-says-more-than-1300-civilians-killed-in-mariupol-but-true-toll-likely-thousands-higher/|title=UN says more than 1,300 civilians killed in Mariupol — but true toll "likely thousands higher"

|date=17 June 2022|access-date=27 January 2023|archive-date=20 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620185808/https://egyptindependent.com/un-says-more-than-1300-civilians-killed-in-mariupol-but-true-toll-likely-thousands-higher/

|url-status=live}} to the Ukrainian claim of over {{formatnum:25000}}.

{{Cite news

|date=7 November 2022 |title=The agony of not knowing, as Mariupol mass burial sites grow |work=British Broadcasting Corporation |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63536564 |access-date=10 November 2022 |archive-date=7 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107013851/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63536564

|url-status=live

}} Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Mariupol the title of Hero City of Ukraine due to Ukrainian forces' "valiant defense" of the city.{{cite news|url=https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-recapture-of-kherson-the-conflict-is-poised-at-the-gates-of-crimea-195025

|title=Ukraine war: after recapture of Kherson the conflict is poised at the gates of Crimea

|date=23 November 2022

|first=Frank

|last=Ledwidge

|access-date=27 January 2023

|archive-date=3 September 2023

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083846/https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-recapture-of-kherson-the-conflict-is-poised-at-the-gates-of-crimea-195025

|url-status=live}}

{{Anchor|Russian occupation of Mariupol}}In the months after they took control of the city, Russian authorities had many damaged buildings torn down, sometimes evicting the remaining residents. Some new housing was also built. Associated Press described this ongoing process as an effort to "eradicat[e] all vestiges of Ukraine" and to cover up "the evidence of war crimes". Local schools started using a Russian curriculum, the television and radio broadcasts switched to Russian, and many street names were replaced by their Soviet-era names.

{{cite news

|title=Russia scrubs Mariupol's Ukrainian identity, builds on death |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-erasing-mariupol-499dceae43ed77f2ebfe750ea99b9ad9

|access-date=26 January 2023 |work=AP News

|date=23 December 2022 |archive-date=19 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319025202/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-erasing-mariupol-499dceae43ed77f2ebfe750ea99b9ad9

|url-status=live

}} The latter was especially controversial, as the Ukrainian authorities restored many historic names during the decommunization process, all of which predated the Soviet Union.{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/everything-is-black-is-destroyed-russia-erases-mariupols-ukrainian-identity/

|title='Everything is black, is destroyed': Russia erases Mariupol's Ukrainian identity

|publisher=Times of Israel

|author=Lori Hinnant

|date=23 December 2022

|access-date=26 March 2023

|archive-date=3 September 2023

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083847/https://www.timesofisrael.com/everything-is-black-is-destroyed-russia-erases-mariupols-ukrainian-identity/|url-status=live}} Among other toponyms, "Freedom Square" was renamed "Lenin Square".{{cite web|url=https://www.mk.ru/politics/2022/06/11/v-mariupole-ploshhad-svobody-pereimenovali-v-ploshhad-lenina.html|title=В Мариуполе площадь Свободы переименовали в площадь Ленина|trans-title=In Mariupol, the Freedom Square was renamed into Lenin Square|language=ru|date=11 June 2022|publisher=Moskovsky Komsomolets|access-date=26 March 2023|archive-date=3 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083847/https://www.mk.ru/politics/2022/06/11/v-mariupole-ploshhad-svobody-pereimenovali-v-ploshhad-lenina.html|url-status=live}}

File:Mariupol in 2024 04.jpg

In August 2023, the Institute for the Study of War reported that the Ukrainian Resistance Center had claimed to have gained access to documents detailing Russian plans to conduct a decade-long ethnic cleansing campaign in occupied Mariupol. The ISW reported that the depopulation of Ukrainians through deportation and Russian efforts to attract Russian citizens to move to the city is likely to be an ethnic cleansing campaign in addition to being apparent violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.{{cite web | title=Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 20, 2023 | website=Institute for the Study of War | date=20 August 2023 | url=https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-20-2023 | access-date=24 August 2023 | archive-date=3 September 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903083846/https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-20-2023 | url-status=live }}

The estimates of the pre-war population that remained in the city in 2024 vary from {{formatnum:80000}} to {{formatnum:120000}}.{{cite news |title=Inside Mariupol: Russia's new Potemkin village |url=https://ig.ft.com/mariupol/ |access-date=11 August 2024 |publisher=The Financial Times |date=6 February 2024}}{{cite news |title=In occupied Mariupol, Russian invaders hold a sham election |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/03/16/in-occupied-mariupol-russian-invaders-hold-a-sham-election |access-date=11 August 2024 |publisher=The Economist |date=16 March 2024}} Since the invasion is estimated to have damaged over 90% of housing in the city centre, the Russian government has invested significant amounts towards building new buildings. This process has included demolishing many damaged buildings, whose remaining residents are sometimes not allowed into the rebuilt buildings, and are offered new property further from the city centre with little compensation. Property prices are similar to before the war, with the Russian government maintaining mortgages at 2% to draw in Russian buyers. According to a Ukrainian official, they number around {{formatnum:80000}} as of mid-2024. In early 2024, the Russian government began a process to seize properties from those who had fled, requiring owners to obtain Russian citizenship and re-register properties with Russian authorities in person in order to keep them. 514 apartments were declared ownerless in May.{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/06/19/russias-latest-crime-in-mariupol-stealing-property |title=Russia's latest crime in Mariupol: stealing property |newspaper=The Economist |date=19 June 2024 |access-date=20 June 2024}}

The 2023 Ukrainian documentary about the siege, 20 Days in Mariupol, won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.{{cite web | last1=Bahr | first1=Lindsey | last2=Weber | first2=Christopher | title='20 Days in Mariupol' wins best documentary Oscar, a first for AP and PBS' 'Frontline' | website=AP News | date=11 March 2024 | url=https://apnews.com/article/best-documentary-2024-oscars-61eadff6af5bb91d53737776c1a60ff8 | access-date=13 March 2024}}

In November 2024, Ukrainian MP Maxym Tkachenko said that around one third of the estimated {{formatnum:200000}} people that fled Mariupol during the city's siege had returned to living in the city, primarily due to inadequate government support when living elsewhere.{{cite web|work=Ukrainska Pravda|date=24 November 2024|title=150,000 IDPs have returned to occupied territories, 70,000 to Mariupol alone – Ukrainian MP|url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/11/24/7486131/|first=Kateryna|last=Tyshcneko}} A day later, he said that "There is no such data. It was my unfounded and emotional assumption."{{Cite web |last=Богданьок |first=Олена |date=25 November 2024 |title=Нардеп Ткаченко спростував свої заяви про 150 тисяч ВПО, які повертаються на ТОТ |url=https://suspilne.media/887687-nardep-tkacenko-sprostuvav-svoi-zaavi-pro-150-tisac-vpo-aki-povertautsa-na-okupovani-teritorii/ |access-date=29 November 2024 |website=Суспільне {{!}} Новини |language=uk}}{{Cite web |title=Верещук спростувала заяви про нібито повернення переселенців на ТОТ |url=https://espreso.tv/viyna-z-rosiyeyu-nardep-tkachenko-zayaviv-pro-nibito-povernennya-pereselentsiv-na-tot-vereshchuk-kategorichno-sprostuvala-informatsiyu |access-date=29 November 2024 |website=espreso.tv |language=uk}}

Mariupol is located in the south of the Donetsk Oblast, on the coast of Sea of Azov and at the mouth of Kalmius River. It is located in an area of the Azov Lowland that is an extension of the Ukrainian Black Sea Lowland. To the east of Mariupol is the Khomutov Steppe, which is also part of the Azov Lowland, located on the border with Russia.

The city occupies an area of {{cvt|166|sqkm}}, or {{cvt|244|km2}} including suburbs administered by the city council. The downtown area is {{cvt|106|km2}}, while the area of parks and gardens is {{cvt|80.6|km2}}.

The city is mainly built on land made of solonetzic (sodium enriched) chernozem, with a significant amount of underground subsoil water, that frequently leads to landslides.

Mariupol has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) with warm summers and cold winters. The average annual precipitation is {{convert|511|mm|in|0}}. Agroclimatic conditions allow the cultivation of warmth-loving agricultural crops with long vegetative periods (sunflower, melons, grapes, etc.). However water resources in the region are insufficient, so ponds and water basins are used for the needs of the population and industry.

In winter, the wind blows mainly from the east, and in summer the north.

{{Weather box

|width = auto

|location = Mariupol (1991–2020, extremes 1955–present)

|metric first = y

|single line = y

|Jan record high C = 12.0

|Feb record high C = 15.0

|Mar record high C = 20.7

|Apr record high C = 30.0

|May record high C = 33.9

|Jun record high C = 37.0

|Jul record high C = 37.8

|Aug record high C = 38.0

|Sep record high C = 34.4

|Oct record high C = 27.1

|Nov record high C = 18.0

|Dec record high C = 14.1

|year record high C = 38.0

|Jan high C = 0.0

|Feb high C = 0.7

|Mar high C = 6.1

|Apr high C = 13.6

|May high C = 20.5

|Jun high C = 25.5

|Jul high C = 28.3

|Aug high C = 27.9

|Sep high C = 21.6

|Oct high C = 14.1

|Nov high C = 6.3

|Dec high C = 1.5

|year high C = 13.8

|Jan mean C = -2.4

|Feb mean C = -2.0

|Mar mean C = 2.8

|Apr mean C = 9.8

|May mean C = 16.5

|Jun mean C = 21.2

|Jul mean C = 23.8

|Aug mean C = 23.3

|Sep mean C = 17.3

|Oct mean C = 10.6

|Nov mean C = 3.7

|Dec mean C = -0.9

|year mean C = 10.3

|Jan low C = −4.6

|Feb low C = −4.5

|Mar low C = 0.1

|Apr low C = 6.3

|May low C = 12.4

|Jun low C = 16.7

|Jul low C = 18.9

|Aug low C = 18.3

|Sep low C = 13.1

|Oct low C = 7.2

|Nov low C = 1.2

|Dec low C = −3.0

|year low C = 6.8

|Jan record low C = −27.2

|Feb record low C = −25.0

|Mar record low C = −20.0

|Apr record low C = −7.3

|May record low C = 0.0

|Jun record low C = 5.6

|Jul record low C = 8.9

|Aug record low C = 5.0

|Sep record low C = −1.1

|Oct record low C = −8.0

|Nov record low C = −17.0

|Dec record low C = −24.5

|year record low C = −27.2

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 47.9

|Feb precipitation mm = 42.4

|Mar precipitation mm = 39.3

|Apr precipitation mm = 38.7

|May precipitation mm = 38.4

|Jun precipitation mm = 56.4

|Jul precipitation mm = 46.3

|Aug precipitation mm = 37.0

|Sep precipitation mm = 44.3

|Oct precipitation mm = 33.7

|Nov precipitation mm = 49.3

|Dec precipitation mm = 52.2

|year precipitation mm = 525.9

|Jan humidity = 87.8

|Feb humidity = 85.6

|Mar humidity = 83.0

|Apr humidity = 76.4

|May humidity = 71.6

|Jun humidity = 70.9

|Jul humidity = 66.7

|Aug humidity = 64.9

|Sep humidity = 70.0

|Oct humidity = 78.2

|Nov humidity = 87.1

|Dec humidity = 88.3

|year humidity = 77.5

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 8.3

|Feb precipitation days = 7.1

|Mar precipitation days = 7.7

|Apr precipitation days = 6.4

|May precipitation days = 5.9

|Jun precipitation days = 7.1

|Jul precipitation days = 4.8

|Aug precipitation days = 3.6

|Sep precipitation days = 5.3

|Oct precipitation days = 5.2

|Nov precipitation days = 7.3

|Dec precipitation days = 8.3

|year precipitation days = 77.0

|source 1 = Pogoda.ru.net (temperatures and record high and low){{Cite web |script-title=ru:КЛИМАТ МАРИУПОЛЯ |url=http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate/34712.htm |access-date=29 October 2021 |publisher=Weather and Climate (Погода и климат) |language=ru |archive-date=7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307070156/http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate/34712.htm |url-status=live }}

|source 2 = World Meteorological Organization (precipitation and humidity 1981–2010){{Cite web |title=World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1981–2010 |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1981-2010/RA-VI/Ukraine/12.6.%20WMO_Normals_Excel_Template%20(2).xls |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717143555/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1981-2010/RA-VI/Ukraine/12.6.%20WMO_Normals_Excel_Template%20%282%29.xls |archive-date=17 July 2021 |access-date=18 July 2021 |publisher=World Meteorological Organization}}

|date=September 2012

}}

{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}}

File:Pollution mar.jpg

Mariupol has historically led Ukraine in the volume of emissions of harmful substances by industrial enterprises. The city's leading enterprises have begun to address these ecological problems, so, over the last 15 years, industrial emissions have fallen to nearly a half of their previous levels.

Due to stable production by the majority of the large industrial enterprises, the city constantly experiences environmental problems. At the end of the 1970s, Zhdanov (Mariupol) ranked third in the USSR (after Novokuznetsk and Magnitogorsk) in the quantity of industrial emissions. In 1989, including all enterprises, the city had 5,215 sources of atmospheric pollution producing 752,900 tons of harmful substances a year (about 98% from metallurgical enterprises and Mariupol Coke-Chemical Plant "Markokhim"). Even after Ukraine regained independence in 1991, by the mid-1990s many pollution limits were still exceeded:

• 1.3 times for ammonia
• 1.3 times for phenol
• 2.0 times for formaldehyde

In the residential areas adjoining the industrial giants, concentrations of benzopyrene reach 6–9 times the maximum concentration limits; hydrogen fluoride, ammonia, and formaldehyde reach 2–3 to 5 times the maximum concentration limits; dust and oxides of carbon, and hydrogen sulphide are 6–8 times the maximum concentration limits; and dioxides of nitrogen are 2–3 times the maximum concentration limits. The maximum concentration limit has been exceed on phenol by 17x, and on benzapiren by 13-14x.

File:UN SDGs consulltations in Mariupol (29607073140).jpg consultations in Mariupol, September 2016]]

Ill-considered locations of the Azovstal and Markokhim to economize on transport charges, during both construction in the 1930s and subsequent operations, have led to extensive wind-borne emissions into the central areas of Mariupol. Wind intensity and geographical "flatness" offer relief from the accumulation of long-standing pollutants, somewhat easing the problem.

The nearby Sea of Azov is in distress. The fish catch in the area has been reduced by orders of magnitude over the last 30–40 years.

The environmental protection activity of the leading industrial enterprises in Mariupol costs millions of hrivnas, but it appears to have little effect on the city's long-standing environmental problems.

{{see also|List of mayors of Mariupol}}

File:Mariupol Mariupol Ice Center Opening 5.jpg at the opening of Mariupol Ice Center on 22 October 2020]]

The Mariupol electorate traditionally supported left wing (socialist and communist) and pro-Russian political parties. At the turn of the 21st century the Party of Regions numerically prevailed in the Mariupol City Council, followed by the Socialist Party of Ukraine. Besides the city council, the local population in Mariupol also vote for deputies in the Donetsk Oblast Council on a regional level and the Verkhovna Rada on a national level.

In the presidential elections of 2004, 91.1% of the city voted for Viktor Yanukovych and 5.93% for Viktor Yuschenko. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, the city voted for the Party of Regions with 39.72% of the votes, the Socialist Party of Ukraine with 20.38%, the Natalia Vitrenko Block with 9.53%, and the Communist Party of Ukraine with 3.29%.

In the 2014 parliamentary elections the Opposition Bloc won more than 50% of the votes.{{Cite web |date=1 November 2014 |title=Nationalism emerges as the winner in Ukraine elections – Telegraph |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/rbth/politics/11198263/nationalism-winner-ukraine-elections.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101023641/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/rbth/politics/11198263/nationalism-winner-ukraine-elections.html |archive-date=1 November 2014}} The seats of the city's two electoral districts were won by Serhiy Matviyenkov and Serhiy Taruta.[http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2014/wp039ept001f01=910.html Data on vote counting at percincts within single-mandate districts Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029091159/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2014/wp039ept001f01%3D910.html |date=29 October 2014 }}, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
{{in lang|uk}} [http://vibori2014.rbc.ua/ukr/okrug Candidates and winners for the seat of the constituencies in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Vibori2014.rbc.ua] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205042521/http://vibori2014.rbc.ua/ukr/okrug |date=5 February 2015 }}, RBK Ukraine

The de jure mayor (chairman of executive committee of the city council) of the city is Ukrainian politician Vadym Boychenko. In the October 2020 local elections he was re-elected with 64.57% of the votes as a candidate of the Vadym Boychenko Bloc. In these mayoral elections Volodymyr Klymenko of Opposition Platform — For Life received 25.84% of the vote, self-nominated candidate Lydia Mugli received 4.72%, the candidate from For the Future Yulia Bashkirova received 1.68% and the nominee from Our Land Mykhailo Klyuyev received 0.99% of the votes. Voter turnout in the election was 27%.{{in lang|uk}} [https://m.tyzhden.ua/publication/249535 Mariupol. The triumphant mayor is forced to look for allies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324024735/https://m.tyzhden.ua/publication/249535 |date=24 March 2022 }}, The Ukrainian Week (5 November 2020)

In the concurrent election in the council, the Opposition Bloc received a landslide victory. Out of a total of 54 deputies, 45 of them were part of the Opposition Bloc party, 5 were from Power of the People party, and 4 from Our Land party.{{Cite web |title=Фракційні міграції в Краматорській та Маріупольській міських радах |publisher=Tochka Dostupu |url=https://dostupoint.org.ua/frakczijni-migracziyi-v-kramatorskij-t/ }}

On 6 April 2022, amidst the siege of the city, politician Konstantin Ivashchenko was installed by Russia as the mayor of Mariupol.{{cite web|work=Al Jazeera|date=7 April 2024|title=Timeline: Russia's siege of Ukraine's Mariupol|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/31/timeline-russias-siege-of-ukraines-port-city-of-mariupol}} He served as the de facto mayor until January 2023, when he was replaced with Oleg Morgun.{{cite web |last1=Hird |first1=Karolina |last2=Bailey |first2=Riley |last3=Barros |first3=George |last4=Kagan |first4=Frederick W. |last5=Mappes |first5=Grace |title=Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 24, 2023 |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-24-2023 |publisher=Institute for the Study of War |date=24 January 2023 |access-date=19 October 2024}}

[[File:Raions of Mariupol.png|thumb|right|Division of the territory, subordinated to Mariupol municipality:

Urban districts of Mariupol:

{{legend|#00FFFF|Tsentralnyi District}}

{{legend|#FF00CC|Kalmiuskyi District}}

{{legend|#9CFF34|Livoberezhnyi District}}

{{legend|#FFFF00|Prymorskyi District}}

Populated places:

1 — Sartana

2 — Staryi Krym

3 — Talakivka

4 — Hnutove

5 — Lomakyne]]

Mariupol is divided into four urban districts.

• Kalmiuskyi District (until June 2016 named Illichivsk District after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin{{in lang|uk}} [http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v0180359-16 On Amending Resolution of the Central Election Commission on April 28, 2012 № 82] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121757/http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v0180359-16 |date=15 December 2018 }}, Verkhovna Rada (3 June 2016)) is the northern part of the city, the largest and most industrialized neighborhood in the city. It is commonly known as the Zavod ("Factory") of Ilyich.
• Livoberezhnyi District (until June 2016 named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze) is the eastern part of the city, on the left bank of the Kalmius River. Its name means the "Left Bank".
• Prymorskyi District is the southern area of the city, on the coast of the Azov Sea. The everyday name of the central part this neighbourhood is simply "the Port".
• Tsentralnyi District is the central urban district. Its everyday name is simply "the Centre" or "the City". Formerly it was known as Zhovtnevyi District (October District) commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

File:Mariupol P.Nilsen's house.jpg, built {{circa|1900}}]]

The Kalmius River separates the Livoberezhnyi District from the remaining three districts. The population is mostly concentrated in the Tsentralnyi and Prymorskyi Districts. The Kalmiuskyi District houses the large Illich Steel and Iron Works and the Azovmash manufacturing plant. The Livoberezhnyi (Left Bank) is home to the Azovstal metallurgic combine and the Koksokhim (Coke and Chemical) factory. The settlements of Staryi Krym and Sartana are located in close proximity to the city limits of Mariupol (see map).

The modern coat of arms of Mariupol was confirmed in 1989. It is described in heraldic terms as: Per fess wavy argent and azure, on an anchor or, accompanied by the figure 1778 of the last. The gold anchor has a ring on top. The number 1778 indicates the year of the city's founding. The argent represents steel; the azure, the sea; the anchor, the port; and the ring, metallurgy.

Holidays exclusive to Mariupol include:

• Day of liberation of the city from fascist aggressors (on 10 September)
• Day of the city (the Sunday after the day of liberation of Mariupol in September)
• Day of the metallurgist – a professional holiday for many citizens
• Day of the machine engineer
• Day of the seaman and other professional holidays

{{historical populations|1897|31116|1926|40825|1939|223796|1959|283570|1970|416927|1979|502581|1989|518933|2001|492176|2011|466665|2014|477992|2022|425681|2023{{cite news |title=Invaders develop 10-year plan for ethnic cleansing in Mariupol, replacing population with Russians – ISW |url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/930023.html |access-date=20 January 2024 |publisher=Interfax-Ukraine |date=21 August 2023}}{{cite news |title=Пушилин оценил численность населения Мариуполя |url=https://ria.ru/20230320/mariupol-1859096502.html |access-date=20 January 2024 |publisher=RIA |date=20 March 2023 |language=ru}}|280000|align=right|cols=1|source={{cite web|title=Cities & Towns of Ukraine|url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/ukraine-cities.htm}}}}As of 1 December 2014, the city's population was 477,992. Over the last century the population has grown nearly twelvefold. The city is populated by Ukrainians, Russians, Pontic Greeks (including Caucasus Greeks and Tatar- and Turkish-speaking but Greek Orthodox Christian Urums), Belarusians, Armenians, Jews, etc. The main language is Russian.

File:Density mar.png

The population fell precipitously as the result of the siege of the city in 2022. Per Ukrainian sources it was 120 thousand in 2023, while according to Russian administration the city population was approximately 280 thousand.{{cite news |title=Invaders develop 10-year plan for ethnic cleansing in Mariupol, replacing population with Russians – ISW |url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/930023.html |access-date=20 January 2024 |publisher=Interfax-Ukraine |date=21 August 2023}}{{cite news |title=Пушилин оценил численность населения Мариуполя |url=https://ria.ru/20230320/mariupol-1859096502.html |access-date=20 January 2024 |publisher=RIA |date=20 March 2023 |language=ru}}

The city is largely and traditionally Russian-speaking, while ethnically the population is divided about evenly between Ukrainians and Russians. There is also a significant ethnic Greek minority in the city.

In 2002, ethnic Ukrainians made up the largest percentage (48.7%) but less than half of the population; the second greatest ethnicity was Russian (44.4%). A June–July 2017 survey indicated that Ukrainians had grown to 59% of Mariupol's population and the Russian share had dropped to 33%.{{Cite web |date=August 2017 |title=Public Opinion Survey of Residents of UkraineJune 9 – July 7, 2017 |url=http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/2017-8-22_ukraine_poll_presentation.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822212837/http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/2017-8-22_ukraine_poll_presentation.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2017 |publisher=iri.org |page=86}}

The city is home to the largest population of Pontic Greeks in Ukraine ("Greeks of Priazovye") at 21,900, with 31,400 more in the six nearby rural areas, totaling about 70% of the Pontic Greek population of the area and 60% for the country.

{{Original research section|date=August 2009}}

The city is predominantly Russian speaking. From 60% to 80% of Ukrainian-language inhabitants communicate in Surzhyk, due to the large influence of Russian culture.

Most Greek-speaking villages in the region speak a dialect called Rumeíka, a branch of Pontic Greek. About 17 villages speak this language today. Modern scholars distinguish five subdialects of Rumeíka according to their similarity to standard Modern Greek. This was derived from the dialect of the original Pontic settlers from the Crimea. Although Rumeíka is often described as a Pontic dialect, the situation is more nuanced. Arguments can be brought both for Rumeíka's similarity to Pontic Greek and to the Northern Greek dialects. In the view of Maxim Kisilier, while the Rumeíka dialect shares some features with both the Pontic Greek and the Northern Greek dialects, it is better considered on its own terms as a separate Greek dialect, or even a group of dialects.{{Citation |last=Kisilier |first=Maxim |title=Is Rumeíka a Pontic or a Northern Greek Dialect? |url=https://www.academia.edu/1727534 |access-date=1 November 2017 |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328204351/https://www.academia.edu/1727534 |url-status=live }}

The village of Anadol speaks Pontic proper, being settled from the Pontos in the 19th century. After the October Revolution of 1917, a Rumaiic revival occurred in the region. The Soviet administration established a Greek-Rumaiic theater, several magazines and a newspaper, and a number of Rumaiic language schools. The best Rumaiic poet Georgi Kostoprav created a Rumaiic poetic language for his work. This process was reversed in 1937 as Kostoprav and many other Rumaiics and Urums were killed as part of Joseph Stalin's national policies.{{Citation |title=Language and Ethno-Cultural Situation in Greek Villages of Azov Region |url=http://iling.spb.ru/pdf/kisilier/greki_priazov.pdf |year=2009 |editor-last=Kissilier |editor-first=Maxim |place=St. Petersburg |access-date=28 February 2013 |archive-date=12 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312235205/https://iling.spb.ru/pdf/kisilier/greki_priazov.pdf |url-status=live }}. The work is based on field research in the Greek villages in the Mariupol region. The expeditions were organised by St. Petersburg State University and carried out from 2001–2004.

A new attempt to preserve a sense of ethnic Rumaiic identity started in the mid-1980s. The Ukrainian scholar Andriy Biletsky created a new Slavonic alphabet for Greek speakers. Though a number of writers and poets make use of this alphabet, the population of the region rarely uses it. The Rumaiic language is declining rapidly, most endangered by the standard Modern Greek which is taught in schools and the local university. The latest investigations by Alexandra Gromova demonstrate that there is still hope that elements of the Rumaiic population will continue to use the dialect.

Along with those speaking Rumeíka, there were and are a number of Tatar-speaking Orthodox villages, the so-called Urums, which is the Tatar term for Romaios or Rumei. This subdivision had already occurred in Crimea before the settlement of the Azov Sea steppe region by Pontic Greeks which began following the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia in 1461. It occurred on a larger scale after the end of the Russo-Turkish War in 1779, as part of the Russian policy to populate and develop the region while depriving the Crimea of an economically active part of its population. Though Greek- and Tatar-speaking settlers lived separately, the language of the Urums was the lingua franca of the region for a long time, being called the language of the bazaar.

There are also a number of settlements of other ethnic communities, including Germans, Bulgarians, and Albanians (though the meanings of all such terms in this context is open to dispute).

Native languages of the population as of the All-Russian Empire Census in 1897:{{Cite web |title=Demoscope Weekly – Annex. Statistical indicators reference. |url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97_uezd_eng.php?reg=438 |access-date=9 February 2015 |website=demoscope.ru |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324024738/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97_uezd_eng.php?reg=438 |url-status=live }}

File:Ukr Donobl Mariupol St. Micholas Church l 2020 SU-HS.jpg

File:Mosque in Mariupol.jpg in Mariupol]]

• 11 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchy.
• 3 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchy.
• 52 various religious communities.

The city is adorned by the St. Nicholas Cathedral (in the Tsentralnyi borough) and other churches of the city, namely:

• St. Nicholas (Primorsky borough)
• St. Michael (Livoberezhnyi borough)
• St. Preobrazheniye ("Holy Transfiguration") (Primorsky borough)
• St. Ilya (Ilyichevsky borough)
• Uspensky ("Assumption") (Livoberezhnyi borough)
• St. Vladimir (Livoberezhnyi borough)
• St. Amvrosy Optinsky (Illyichevsky borough, Volonterobvka)
• St. Varlampy (Illyichevsky borough, Mirny)
• St. George (Illyichevsky borough, Sartana)
• Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Illyichevsky borough, Talakovka)
• St. Boris & Gleb (Prymorsky borough, Moryakov)

Many churches were destroyed in the 1930s during the Soviet era by the Bolshevik government as part of the Atheist Five-Year Plan:[http://old-mariupol.com.ua/mariinskaya-cerkov/ Дмитрий Янатьев: Мариинская церковь.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420025756/http://old-mariupol.com.ua/mariinskaya-cerkov/ |date=20 April 2011 }} old-mariupol.com.ua.[http://old-mariupol.com.ua/sudba-svyatyni-mariupolskix-grekov/ Николай РУДЕНКО: Судьба святыни мариупольских греков. ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611014219/http://old-mariupol.com.ua/sudba-svyatyni-mariupolskix-grekov/ |date=11 June 2022 }} old-mariupol.com.ua.[https://mrpl.city/blogs/view/tserkov-sv-marii-magdaliny Церковь св. Марии Магдалины.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410033513/https://mrpl.city/blogs/view/tserkov-sv-marii-magdaliny |date=10 April 2018 }} mrpl.city.[https://localtravel.com.ua/dve-zhizni-khrama-svyatoy-marii-magdaliny/ Две жизни храма Святой Марии Магдалины.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605100301/https://localtravel.com.ua/dve-zhizni-khrama-svyatoy-marii-magdaliny/ |date=5 June 2022 }} localtravel.com.ua.[http://old-mariupol.com.ua/cerkov-marii-magdaliny/ D. Janatjew (Д. Янатьев): Церковь Марии Магдалины. ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202071936/http://old-mariupol.com.ua/cerkov-marii-magdaliny/ |date=2 December 2016 }} old-mariupol.com.ua.Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий): Мариупольские храмы вчера и сегодня (churches of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий): Мариупольская старина (history of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991[http://old-mariupol.com.ua/dlya-postrojki-kakogo-xrama-yunyj-arxip-prinimal-kirpichi/ Сергей БУРОВ: Для постройки какого храма юный Архип принимал кирпичи? ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621193833/https://old-mariupol.com.ua/dlya-postrojki-kakogo-xrama-yunyj-arxip-prinimal-kirpichi/ |date=21 June 2021 }} old-mariupol.com.ua[http://old-mariupol.com.ua/chetvertyj-den-ekskursii-%E2%80%93-25-marta/ ЧЕТВЕРТЫЙ ДЕНЬ ЭКСКУРСИИ – 25 МАРТА ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422185511/http://old-mariupol.com.ua/chetvertyj-den-ekskursii-%e2%80%93-25-marta/ |date=22 April 2022 }} old-mariupol.com.ua[https://mistomariupol.com.ua/uk/5-bezpovorotno-zagublenih-hramiv-mariupolya/ 5 безповоротно загублених храмів Маріуполя.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325051246/https://mistomariupol.com.ua/uk/5-bezpovorotno-zagublenih-hramiv-mariupolya/ |date=25 March 2022 }} mistomariupol.com.ua.[http://old-mariupol.com.ua/xram-ot-rozhdeniya-do-raspyatiya/ Эдуард ВОРОБЬЕВ: Храм – от рождения до распятия.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413124454/http://old-mariupol.com.ua/xram-ot-rozhdeniya-do-raspyatiya/ |date=13 April 2014 }} old-mariupol.com.ua.{{Cite web|url=https://colvilleandersen.medium.com/the-architecture-of-mariupol-and-the-legacy-of-viktor-nielsen-a8505ed04b9b|title=The Architecture of Mariupol — and the legacy of Viktor Nielsen|first=Mikael|last=Colville-Andersen|date=7 March 2022|access-date=24 June 2022|archive-date=7 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307085141/https://colvilleandersen.medium.com/the-architecture-of-mariupol-and-the-legacy-of-viktor-nielsen-a8505ed04b9b|url-status=live}}

• Church of the Assumption of MaryLew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий): Мариупольские храмы вчера и сегодня (Churches of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий): Мариупольская старина (History of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991
• Church of Mary Magdalene{{Cite web |title=Church of St. Mary Magdalene |url=https://mrpl.city/blogs/view/tserkov-sv-marii-magdaliny |access-date=20 March 2022 |website=mrpl.city |archive-date=10 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410033513/https://mrpl.city/blogs/view/tserkov-sv-marii-magdaliny |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Excavations of the entrance to the dungeon have started in Mariupol |url=https://religions.unian.ua/religinossociety/10136249-u-mariupoli-pochalisya-rozkopki-vhodu-v-pidzemellya-shukayut-starovinnu-cerkvu-video.html |access-date=20 March 2022 |website=Unian |date=31 May 2018 |archive-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528050102/https://religions.unian.ua/religinossociety/10136249-u-mariupoli-pochalisya-rozkopki-vhodu-v-pidzemellya-shukayut-starovinnu-cerkvu-video.html |url-status=live }}
• Tsarevich Chapel in Mariupol
• Roman Catholic church also known as "the church of the Italians" was built in 1860. The Italians in Mariupol exported grain and imported citrus fruits and spices. In Soviet times the church was destroyed in 1936.Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий): Мариупольские храмы вчера и сегодня (english: churches of mariupol, yesterday and today), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий): Мариупольская старина (english: history of mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991
• Saints Constantine and Helen Church
• Cathedral of St. Charalambos{{Cite web|url=https://catholicsaints.info/saint-charalampias/|title=CatholicSaints.Info » Blog Archive » Saint Charalampias|access-date=25 November 2022|archive-date=3 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903084350/https://catholicsaints.info/saint-charalampias/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=http://old-mariupol.com.ua/sobor-svyatogo-xarlampiya/ |title= СОБОР СВЯТОГО ХАРЛАМПИЯ |access-date=24 June 2022 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601033040/http://old-mariupol.com.ua/sobor-svyatogo-xarlampiya/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.shukach.com/ru/node/10927|title=Шукач | Намоленное место Мариуполя. Харлампиевский собор (новый) на Базарной площади (разрушен)|website=www.shukach.com|access-date=24 June 2022|archive-date=4 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604044919/https://www.shukach.com/ru/node/10927|url-status=live}}
• Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection
• Church of the Nativity of the Virgin

New buildings:

• Cathedral of Saint Nicholas
• Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel
• Cathedral of Saint George, built in 2005
• Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection

Маріуполь, Успения Пресвятой Богородицы (Успенская, Мариинская), (1).jpg| Church of the Assumption of Mary

Мариуполь. Александровский сквер.jpg| Church of Mary Magdalene

Мариуполь, Церква Марії Магдалини, Капличка (1).png| Tsarevich Chapel in Mariupol

Мариуполь. Католическая церковь.jpg|Roman Catholic church

Маріуполь, Слободка, церква Св. Костянтина і Єлени.jpg| Saints Constantine and Helen Church

Маріуполь. Колишній Харлампіївський собор 1845 р.добудови 1892, фото 1900 р.jpg| Cathedral of St. Charalambos

Ukr Donobl Mariupol St. Micholas Cathedral 2 2020 SU-HS.jpg|Cathedral of Saint Nicholas

Mariupol 2007 (47).jpg|Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel

Ukr Donobl Sartana Church of St. George 1 2020 SU-HS.jpg| Cathedral of Saint George

Ukr Donobl Mariupol Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God 1 2020 SU-HS.jpg| Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection

Маріуполь. Ринкова площа біля собору Св. Харлампія.jpg|Market square

Маріуполь вулиця Катерининська.jpg|Catherine Street

In addition to churches, there are 3 mosques around the city.{{Fact|date=October 2024}}

In 2009, the official rate of unemployment in the city was 2%.{{Cite web |title=City's Economy in H1 2009 |url=http://www.marsovet.org.ua/ru/page.php?nv_cat=28&cat_1=44&cat_2=270 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220102950/http://marsovet.org.ua/ru/page.php?nv_cat=28 |archive-date=20 February 2009 |access-date=25 August 2009 |publisher=Mariupol City Council home page |language=ru}} The figure, however, only includes people registered as "unemployed" in the local job centre. The real unemployment rate was therefore higher.

{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}

File:Mariupol 2007 (124).jpg]]

There were 56 industrial enterprises in Mariupol under various plans of ownership. The city's industry was diverse, with heavy industry dominant. Mariupol was home to major steel mills (including some of global importance) and chemical plants; there was also an important seaport and a railroad junction. The largest enterprises were Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, Azovstal, Azovmash Holding, and the Mariupol Sea Trading Port. There were also shipyards, fish canneries, and various educational institutions with studies in metallurgy and science.

The total industrial production of the city for eight months in 2005 (January – August) was 21378.2 million hryvnas (US$4.233 billion), compared to 1999 – 6169.806 million hryvnas (US$1.222 billion). This was 37.5% of the total production for Donetsk Oblast. The leading business of the city was ferrous metallurgy, which made up 93.5% of the city's income from industrial production. The annual output estimates are in millions of tonnes of iron, steel, rolled iron, and agglomerate.

• Illich Steel and Iron Works (Mariupol Metallurgical Combine named Ilyich) was an integrated mill, with all the facilities for a full metallurgical cycle. Housing around 100 thousand workers, it wa the second largest in Ukraine, after Kryvorizhstal. The company was the collective property of the Society of Tenants (Joint-Stock Company "Ilyich-steel"; with about 37,000 worker-shareholders). The head of the board of enterprise was the People's Deputy, Volodymyr Boyko. The enterprise had multiple structural divisions: Management of Public Catering and Trade ("УОПТ", a network of 52 enterprises), a chemist's network Ilyich-Pharm, more than 50 agro shops (former collective farms of the south of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts), the office of the Komsomol Mines, various machine-building enterprises in the Cherkasy Oblast, Mariupol International Airport, and the Mariupol Television Network (locally known as MTV).
• Azovstal was another integrated mill ("Combine"), the third largest in Ukraine in terms of gross revenue. Its production varied in millions of tonnes of pig-iron, steel, and rolled iron annually. The company's general director was Oleksiy Bilyi. Azovstal was closely connected with the Mariupol coke works, "Markokhim", which served as its supplier of coke.
• Open Society Azovmash (Holding) was the largest machine-building enterprise in Ukraine, specialising in production of equipment for mining-metallurgical complexes, tank cars, port cranes, boilers, fuel-fillers, etc. The President was Oleksandr Savchuk. The enterprise was formerly owned by the state and was privatised by System Capital Management, a Donetsk financial and economic group.

File:Mariupol IC train.JPG

• Azov ship-repair factory (АСРЗ) was the largest enterprise of its class on the Sea of Azov, also owned by System Capital Management.
• Open Society Mariupol sea trading port was the largest sea port in eastern Ukraine through which was transported large quantities of various products such as coal, metal, mechanical engineering products, varieties of ores and grains from and to various cities such as Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, and the near regions of the Russian Federation.
• Azov sea shipping company which was owned until 2003 by the Donbass Merchant Marine fleet, is now also under the ownership of System Capital Management. Donbass Merchant Marine is now a bankrupt enterprise which formerly operated out of ports on the Sea of Azov such as Mariupol, Berdiansk, and Taganrog (Russia).

The above-mentioned enterprises, along with a plethora of others not mentioned, are located in the free economic zone of Azov.

{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}

The GDP of the city in 2004 was ₴22,769,400 ($4,510,400); it is listed in the state budget as ₴83,332,000 ($16,507,400). The city is one of the largest contributors to the Ukrainian national budget (after Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia).

The GPA of the city is ₴1,262.04 (~US$250.00) a month, one of the highest in the country. The average pension in the city is ₴423.15 ($83.82). Commercial debts in the city were reduced in 2005 to 1.1% or ₴5.1 million ($1.01 million).

Income from services rendered for 9 months of 2005 was ₴860.4 million ($107.4 million) and the volume of retail trade for the same period was ₴838.7 million ($166.1 million). The city's enterprises for 9 months of 2005 recorded a positive financial result (profit) of ₴3.2 billion ($634 million), which is 23.6% more than in the prior year (2004).

{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}

;Theatres:

• Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater. In 2003 the oldest theater in the region celebrated its 125th anniversary.{{Cite book |last1=Grinevetsky |first1=Sergei R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFCqBAAAQBAJ&dq=mariupol+regional+theatre+established+125th+anniversary&pg=PA516 |title=The Black Sea Encyclopedia |last2=Zonn |first2=Igor S. |last3=Zhiltsov |first3=Sergei S. |last4=Kosarev |first4=Aleksey N. |last5=Kostianoy |first5=Andrey G.

|date=30 September 2014 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-55227-4 |page=516 |language=en |access-date=12 July 2022 |archive-date=3 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903084352/https://books.google.com/books?id=KFCqBAAAQBAJ&dq=mariupol+regional+theatre+established+125th+anniversary&pg=PA516 |url-status=live }} For its contribution to the spiritual education of theater, in 2000 it was awarded the laureate in the "Gold Scythian" competition. The theatre was largely destroyed by Russian airstrikes on 16 March 2022.

{{Cite news

|date=16 March 2022 |title=Ukraine: Mariupol city council claims Russia destroys crowded theater — live updates

|language=en-GB |work=Deutsche Welle |url=https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-mariupol-city-council-claims-russia-destroys-crowded-theater-live-updates/a-61140204

|url-status=live

|access-date=16 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316174736/https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-mariupol-city-council-claims-russia-destroys-crowded-theater-live-updates/a-61140204 |archive-date=16 March 2022}}

;Cinemas:

• Pobeda ("Victory") – now closed
• Savona
• Multiplex

File:Народный ансамбль спортивного бального танца "Карнавал"..jpg

Palaces of culture (recreation centres) (together with clubs – 16):

• Metallurgov ("Metallurgists") of Ilyich Steel & Iron Works
• Azovstal of Azovstal Steel & Iron Works
• Iskra ("Spark") of Azovmash Machine-builder Concern
• MarKokhim (Mariupol Coke Chemistry)
• Moryakov ("Sailors")
• Stroitel ("Builders")
• Palace of children's and youth art ("Palace of Children art")
• Municipal Palace of Culture

File:Экстрим-парк вид с колеса обозрения.jpg

;Showrooms and museums:

• Mariupol Regional Museum
• Kuindzhi Art Exhibition
• Museum of Folk Life (formerly, the museum of Andrey Zhdanov)
• Museum halls of the industrial enterprises and their divisions, establishments and the organisations of city, and others.

;Libraries (35):

• Korolenko Central Library;
• Gorky Central Children's Library;
• Serafimovich Library (The oldest library in the city);
• And also: Gaydar Library, Honchar Library, Hrushevsky Library, Krupskaya Library, Kuprin Library, Lesya Ukrainka Library, Marshak Library, Morozov Library, Novikov-Priboy Library, Pushkin Library, Svetlov Library, Turgenev Library, Franko Library, Chekhov Library, Chukovsky Library, the libraries of industrial enterprises, establishments, and the organisations of the city.

Creative Organisations of Artists, Union of Journalists of Mariupol, the Literary Union «Azovye» (from 1924, about 100 members), and others. Works of Mariupol poets and writers: N. Berilov, A. Belous, G. Moroz, A. Shapurmi, A. Savchenko, V. Kior, N. Harakoz, L. Kiryakov, L. Belozerova, P. Bessonov, and A. Zaruba are written in the Russian, Ukrainian, and Greek languages. Presently, 10 members of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine live in the city.

File:MRPL City 2017 - День 3 (95).jpg at the MRPL City Festival]]

From 2017 Mariupol has hosted the MRPL City Festival, an annual music festival, held every August on Pishchanka beach. The festival began in 2017 as "the biggest event on the East Coast." The festival is multi-genre: each scene has its own style.{{Cite web |title=MRPL CITY 2019 |url=https://concert.ua/en/event/mrpl-city |access-date=25 September 2019 |website=CONCERT.ua |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812183711/https://concert.ua/en/event/mrpl-city |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=MRPL City Festival / 9-11 августа, Мариуполь |url=https://mrplcityfestival.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814182727/https://mrplcityfestival.com/ |archive-date=14 August 2019 |access-date=25 September 2019 |website=mrplcityfestival.com}}

Gogolfest is an annual multidisciplinary international festival of contemporary art, which contains theatrical performances, day and night musical performances, film shows, art exhibitions and dialogues. In 2018–2019 Gogolfest was held in Mariupol. In 2019 the festival lasted from 26 April to 1 May 2019.{{Cite web |title=STARTUP ГОГОЛЬFEST |url=http://sugf.org/en/ |access-date=25 September 2019 |website=Гогольфест – Маріуполь |language=ru-RU |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324024737/http://sugf.org/en/ |url-status=dead }}

{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}

File:Пирс в Мариуполе.jpg

Tourist attractions are mainly on the coast of the Sea of Azov. Around the city a strip of resort settlements was established: Melekino, {{Interlanguage link|Urzuf|uk|Урзуф}}, Yalta, Donetsk Oblast, Sedovo, Bezymennoye, Sopino, {{Interlanguage link|Belosaray Kosa|uk|Білосарайська коса}},

The first resorts in the city opened in 1926. Along the sea a narrow bar of sandy beaches stretches for 16 km. Water temperature in the summer ranges from {{convert|22|to(-)|24|°C|0|abbr=on}}. The duration of the bathing season is 120 days.

File:Theater square Mariupol.jpg

• City Square (Theatrical Square)
• Extreme Park (new attractions near to the biggest in city of the Palace of Culture of Metallurgists)
• Gurov Meadow-park (former Meadow-park a name of the 200-anniversary of Mariupol)
• City Garden ("Children's Central Public Garden")
• Veselka Park (Livoberezhnyi District), named for the rainbow
• Azovstal Park (Livoberezhnyi District)
• Petrovsky Park (near the modern Volodymyr Boiko Stadium and constructions of "Azovmash" basketball club, Kalmiuskyi District)
• Primorsky Park (Prymorsky District)

Mariupol has monuments to Vladimir Vysotsky, and in honour of the liberation of Donbass, the metallurgists, and others.

The city of Mariupol has several parks and squares, the most popular being the City Square (Theater Square), the Amusement Park, the Gurov Park (formerly Mariupol Bicentenary Park), the Petrovski Park, the City Gardens (with monuments to the heroes of the Second World War, inaugurated in 1863, the Vessiolka park, the Azovstal park, the Sea park (formerly of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the October Revolution).

File: Mariupol 2007 (85).jpg

Mariupol is known for its many memorials, statues and sculptures, including the bust of Mariupol-born painter Arkhip Kuindzhi, a statue of Taras Shevchenko, founder of the Ukrainian literary language in the second half of the 19th century, as well as Pushkin, representing the Russian language. Four statues of Lenin remain as testimonies to history. A statue of Andrei Zhdanov after whom the city was named from 1948 to 1990, dominated the central square of the city in the Soviet period but was removed in 1990. A statue of the iconoclastic singer Vladimir Vysotsky (former husband of the Russian-French actress Marina Vlady), was inaugurated in 1998. A bust of the winner of the White Army, commander of a battalion in the region in April 1919, Kuzma Anatov, was inaugurated in 1968 on the street of the same name.

The Great Patriotic War is the subject of some fifteen monuments, statues, tanks, busts, etc. in honor of the Red Army, a fighting unit, a glorious deed or a hero who died in combat to liberate the country from the Third Reich, such as the monument to the twelve patriots shot by the Germans on 7 March 1942.

File:Monument victim of Chernobyl Catastrophe in Mariupol.jpg memorial]]

A large statue commemorating the liberation of Donbass dominates the square on Nakhimov Avenue. The eternal flame burns before the monument to the victims of Nazism. A monument to the victims of Stalinism was erected on Theatre Square, as well as a large cross in 2008 at the main cemetery, in memory of the victims of the great famine of the 1920s following dekulakisation. A large stone with a commemorative plaque, in an alley off Lenin Avenue, commemorates the victims of Chernobyl.

There are also monuments to Makar Maza, Hryhoriy Yuriyovych Horban, K.P. Apatov, and Tolya Balabukha, to seamen–commandos, to pilots V.G. Semenyshyn and N.E. Lavytsky, and to soldiers of the Soviet 9th Aviation Division. The artists V. Konstantynov and L. Kuzminkov are the sculptors of some of the monuments, including the monument to Metropolitan Ignatiy, the founder of Mariupol, (1715–1786, canonized in 1998 by the Orthodox Church) recently erected near St. Nicholas Cathedral.

{{update|date=April 2022}}

Mariupol is the second most populous city in Donetsk Oblast after Donetsk, and is amongst the ten most populous cities in Ukraine. See the list of cities in Ukraine.

File:Стара вежа (Маріуполь) 1.jpg

Old Mariupol is an area defined by the coast of the Sea of Azov to the south, the Kalmius River to the east, to the north by Shevchenko Boulevard, and to the west by Metalurhiv Avenue. It is made up mainly of low-rise buildings and has kept its pre-revolutionary architecture. Only Artem Street and Miru Avenue were built after World War II.

The central area of Mariupol (from Metalurhiv Avenue up to Budivelnykiv Avenue) is made up almost entirely of administrative and commercial buildings, including a city council building, a post office, the Lukov cinema, Mariupol State University of Humanities, Priazov State Technical University, the Korolenko central city library, and many large stores.

The architecture of other residential areas (Zakhidny, Skhidny, Kirov, Cheremushky, and 5th and 17th quarters) is not particularly distinctive or original and consists of typical apartment buildings of five to nine storeys.

File:Mariupol 2007 (26).jpg

The term "Cheremushki" carries a special meaning in Russian culture and now also in Ukrainian; it usually refers to the newly settled parts of a city. The city's residential area covers 9.82 million square meters. The population density is 19.3 square meters per inhabitant.

Industrial construction prevails. Mass building of habitable quarters within the city ended in the 1980s. Mainly under construction now are comfortable habitations.{{clarify|date=May 2015}} The city's construction industry for nine months of 2005 executed a volume of civil contract and building works of 304.4 million hrivnas (US$60 million). The city density on this parameter is 22.1%.{{Clarify|date=April 2022}}

Mariupol has been almost completely destroyed during the ongoing Russian Invasion of Ukraine.{{Cite web |date=6 May 2022 |title=Mariupol 'destroyed completely', says Zelensky |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/mariupol-destroyed-completely-says-zelensky-101651855634952.html |access-date=2 June 2022 |website=Hindustan Times |archive-date=10 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074223/https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/mariupol-destroyed-completely-says-zelensky-101651855634952.html |url-status=live }}

• Avenues: Miru, Metalurhiv, Budivelnykiv, Ilyich, Nakhimov, Peremohy, Lunin, and Leningradsky (in Livoberezhnyi District)
• Streets: Artem, Torhova, Apatov, Kuprin, Uritsky, Bakhchivandzhi, Gagarin, Karpinsky, Mamin-Sibiryak, Taganrog, Olympic, Azovstal, Makar Mazay, Karl Liebknecht
• Boulevards: Shevchenko, Morskyi, Prymore, Khmelnytskyi, etc.
• Squares: Administrative, Nezalezhnosti, Peremohy, Mashinobudivnykiv, Vioniv, Vyzvolennia.

• Mariupol railway station: The city is connected by rail to Donbass (the Direction of trains being: Moscow, Kyiv, Lviv, Saint Petersburg, Minsk, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kharkiv, Poltava, Slavyansk-na-Kubani).
• A marina near the Port of Mariupol.
• Mariupol International Airport (the property Ilyich Mariupol steel and iron works).

File:transport eng mariupol.png

File:Streams mar.jpg

Mariupol has transportation including bus transportation, trolleybuses, trams, and fixed-route taxis. The city is connected by railways, a seaport and the airport to other countries and cities.

• Urban electric transport (MTTU, Mariupol Tram-trolleybus management):
• Trams, streetcars (since 1933) – 12 routes (models of type KTM-5 and KTM-8 operate),
• Trolleybuses (since 1970) – 14 routes (machines of type: Škoda 14Tr, ZiU-10, ZiU-9, YuMZ T-1, YuMZ T-2, :de:MAN SL 172 HO).
• Buses – mainly marshrutka (private minibuses), on suburban and long-distance routes.
• Road service station (which includes transportations to Taganrog, Rostov-upon-Don, Krasnodar, Kyiv, Odesa, Yalta, Dnipro are carried out, etc.) and a suburban auto station (with routes to Pershotravnevy, Volodarsky and areas of Donetsk oblast).

All leading Ukrainian mobile communications carriers have served Mariupol. In Soviet times, ten automatic telephone exchanges were operational; six digital automatic telephone exchanges were recently added.

There are 60 medical and medical-health establishments in the city — hospitals, polyclinics, the station of blood transfusion, urgent care clinics, sanatoriums, sanatoriums-preventive clinics, regional centre of social maintenance of pensionaries and invalids, city centres: gastroenterology, thoracic surgery, bleedings, pancreatic, microsurgery of the eye. Central pool-hospital on a water-carriage. The largest hospital is the Mariupol regional intensive care hospital.

Eight-one general educational establishments operated in Mariupol, including: 67 comprehensive schools (48,500 students), two grammar schools, three lyceums, four evening schools, three boarding schools, two private schools, eleven professional educational institutions (6,274 students), and 94 children's preschool establishments (12,700 children).

Three higher education establishments:

• Priazovsky State Technical University
• Mariupol State University
• Azovsky Institute of Marine Transport

File:Mariupol Christmas Market.jpg

More than 20 local newspapers are published, mostly in Russian, including:

• Priazovsky Rabochy (Priazovdky Worker)
• Mariupolskaya Zhizn (Mariupol Life)
• Mariupolskaya Nedelya (Mariupol Week)
• Ilyichevets
• Azovstalets
• Azovsky Moryak (Azov Seaman)
• Azovsky Mashinostroitel (Azov Machine-builder)

Twelve radio stations, and seven regional television companies and channels:

• Sigma Broadcasting Company
• MTV Broadcasting Company (Mariupol television)
• TV 7 Broadcasting Company
• Inter-Mariupol Broadcasting Company
• Format Broadcasting Company

Retransmitting about 15 national public channels (Inter, 1+1, STB, NTN, 5 Channel, ICTV, First National TV, New Channel, TV Company Ukraina, etc.)

There are about 300 public associations, including 22 trade-union organizations, about 40 political parties, 16 youth groups, four women's organizations, 37 associations of veterans and disabled, and 134 national and cultural societies.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

File:Illichivets Stadium, Mariupol 05.jpg.]]

File:Ильичевец - panoramio.jpg]]

Mariupol is the hometown of the nationally famous swimmer Oleksandr Sydorenko who lived in the city until his death on 20 February 2022.{{Cite web |date=11 March 2022 |title=1980 Olympic Gold Medalist Oleksandr Sydorenko Dies from COVID-19 |url=https://swimswam.com/1980-olympic-gold-medalist-oleksandr-sydorenko-dies-from-covid-19/ |access-date=28 March 2022 |website=SwimSwam |language=en-US |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313032542/https://swimswam.com/1980-olympic-gold-medalist-oleksandr-sydorenko-dies-from-covid-19/ |url-status=live }}{{unreliable source?|date=October 2023}}

FC Mariupol is a football club, with a great sport traditions and a history of participation at the European level competitions.

The water polo team, the "Ilyichevets", is the undisputed champion of Ukraine. It has won the Ukrainian championship 11 times. Every year it plays in the European Champion Cup and Russian championship.

Azovstal' Canoeing Club on the Kalmius River. Vitaly Yepishkin – third place in the World Cup in the 200m K-2.

Azovmash Basketball Club, like the "Ilichevets" Water-polo Club, has numerous national championship titles. Significant successes were obtained as well by the Mariupol schools of boxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, artistic gymnastics, and other types of sport.

Sports building in the city (count 585):

• Volodymyr Boiko stadium
• Azovstal sports complex
• Azovets stadium (in the past known as Locomotive)
• Azovmash sports complex
• Sadko sports complex
• Vodnik sports complex
• Neptune public pool
• Azovstal chess club

File:Vadim Boychenko (cropped).jpg, 2016]]

File:Jawlensky Sakharoff.jpg, 1909]]

• Mikhail Averbakh (1872–1944), Russian and Soviet ophthalmologist
• Dmitry Aynalov (1862–1939) a Soviet and Russian art historian and university professor
• Nikki Benz (born 1981), pornographic actress
• Vadym Boychenko (born 1977) Ukrainian politician, the Mayor of Mariupol
• Volodymyr Boyko (1938–2015), Ukrainian entrepreneur and politician
• Abram Budanov (1886–1929) a Ukrainian anarchist military commander
• Diana Hajiyeva (born 1989), singer who represented Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
• Konstantin Ivashchenko (born 1963) politician and businessman, de facto Mayor of Mariupol
• Felix Krivin (1928–2016) a Soviet, Ukrainian and Israeli poet, author and screenwriter.
• Arkhip Kuindzhi (1842–1910), a Ukrainian landscape painter of Pontic Greek descent.
• Leonid Lukov (1909–1963) a Soviet film director and screenwriter.
• Ivan Ivanovich Mavrov (1936–2009), physician
• Julie Pelipas (born 1984) a Ukrainian stylist and local fashion director of Vogue
• Vyacheslav Polozov (born 1950), opera singer and professor of voice
• Alexander Sakharoff (1886–1963), Russian Empire dancer, teacher and choreographer; emigrated to France.
• Olgierd Straszyński (1903–1971), Polish conductor.
• Mykola Trofymenko (born 1985), Ukrainian academic political scientist.
• Voron Viacheslav (born 1967), singer, composer and music producer
• Viacheslav Voron (born 1967), singer-songwriter of the Russian and Ukrainian chanson
• Sergey Voychenko (1955–2004), Belarusian artist and designer.{{Cite news |title=Імёны Свабоды: Сяргей Войчанка (The Names of Freedom: Sergey Voychenko) (5.11.1955— 9.12.2004) (in Belarusian) |newspaper=Радыё Свабода |date=5 December 2007 |url=https://www.svaboda.org/a/753640.html |access-date=19 April 2022 |archive-date=1 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501132453/https://www.svaboda.org/a/753640.html |url-status=live |last1=Свабода |first1=Радыё }}
• Alfred Wintle MC (1897–1966) a British military officer and one of London's great eccentrics.
• Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi (born 1959) a wealthy Ukrainian businessman.
• Anna Zatonskih (born 1978), Ukrainian American chess player
• Andrei Zhdanov (1896–1948), Soviet politician and cultural ideologist.

File:2015 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships - Vault - Medalists 06.jpg, 2015]]

• Sergei Baltacha, (born 1958), former 1988 European Football Championship runner-up
• Oleksandr Haydash (born 1967) former Ukrainian Russian football striker with 437 club caps.
• Oleh Kyryukhin (born 1975) a light flyweight boxer, bronze medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
• Alexander Oleinik (born 1986) kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter
• Vyacheslav Oliynyk (born 1966) Ukrainian wrestler and gold medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Eduard Piskun (born 1967) is a Ukrainian former football player with over 450 club caps
• Viktor Prokopenko (1944–2007) a Ukrainian football player and coach
• Ihor Radivilov (born 1992), Olympic, world and European medalist in gymnastics
• Oleksandr Sydorenko (1960–2022), individual medley swimmer, gold medallist at the 1980 Summer Olympics
• Tetiana Ustiuzhanina (born 1965) competitive rower, team bronze medallist at the 1992 Summer Olympics
• Oleksandr Volkov (born 1961) a former Soviet footballer with 515 club caps and Ukrainian football manager.

After Russia set up an occupational administration in Mariupol, it was twinned with Saint-Petersburg on 24 May 2022{{Cite web |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/08/russian-towns-get-ukrainian-twins-in-pr-drive-political-deflection-tactic-a78195 |title=Russian Towns Get Ukrainian 'Twins' in PR Drive, Political Deflection Tactic |date=8 July 2022 |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=31 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731185241/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/08/russian-towns-get-ukrainian-twins-in-pr-drive-political-deflection-tactic-a78195 |url-status=live }} and Grozny on 10 August 2023. An art symbol of the twinning was unveiled on Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, which was later defaced and removed by unknown people.{{Cite web |url=https://www.txtreport.com/news/2022-12-19-%22murderers--you-bombed-it%22--a-schoolgirl-was-detained-in-st--petersburg-for-writing-on-an-installation-about-mariupol.HyB1fER_i.html |title="Murderers, you bombed it": a schoolgirl was detained in St. Petersburg for writing on an installation about Mariupol |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407060204/https://www.txtreport.com/news/2022-12-19-%22murderers--you-bombed-it%22--a-schoolgirl-was-detained-in-st--petersburg-for-writing-on-an-installation-about-mariupol.HyB1fER_i.html |url-status=live }}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Sister project links|auto=yes|d=yes}}

In English

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Mariupol |volume= 17 | page = 725 |short= 1}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111007194923/http://www.welcome-to-mariupol.org.ua/ welcome-to-mariupol.org.ua] – Welcome to Mariupol! – support and assistance for foreign visitors
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060307100342/http://www.ilyich.ua/ Ilyich Mariupol steel and iron works]
• [http://photoua.net/show_en.php?cur_cat_id=149&size=little photos of Mariupol]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130319015548/http://www.3dmariupol.com/en/ photo Mariupol: panoramic photos of Mariupol in 360 degrees]
• [http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=493 The murder of the Jews of Mariupol] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203221758/https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=493 |date=3 February 2022 }} during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.

In Ukrainian

• {{in lang|uk}} [https://www.panoramio.com/user/1232816 Historical buildings in Mariupol Old Town] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121517/http://www.panoramio.com/user/1232816 |date=15 December 2018 }}

{{Navboxes

|title=Articles and topics related to Mariupol

|state=collapsed

|list1=

{{Donetsk Oblast}}

{{Subdivisions of Mariupol}}

{{Cities in Ukraine}}

{{Hero Cities of Ukraine}}

{{Catherinian pseudo-Hellenization}}

{{War in Donbas}}

{{Mariupol in the Russo-Ukrainian War}}

}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Cities in Donetsk Oblast

Category:Mariupolsky Uyezd

Category:Populated places established in 1778

Category:Populated coastal places in Ukraine

Category:Port cities and towns in Ukraine

Category:Port cities and towns of the Azov Sea

Category:Greektowns

Category:Cities of regional significance in Ukraine

Category:1778 establishments in the Russian Empire

Category:Populated places established in the Russian Empire

Category:Former Soviet toponymy in Ukraine

Category:Holocaust locations in Ukraine

Category:Territorial disputes of Ukraine

Category:Populated places destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Category:Mariupol urban hromada

Category:Forts in Ukraine