Mariupol[a] is a city inDonetsk Oblast,Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of theSea of Azov, at the mouth of theKalmius River. Prior to theRussian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the country and the second-largest city in Donetsk Oblast, with an estimated population of 425,681 people in January 2022;[4] as of August 2023, Ukrainian authorities estimate the population of Mariupol at approximately 120,000.[3] Mariupol has been occupied by Russian forces since May 2022.
Historically, the city of Mariupol was a centre for trade and manufacturing, and played a key role in the development of higher education and many businesses and also served as a coastal resort on the Sea of Azov. In 1948, Mariupol was renamedZhdanov (Russian:Жданов) afterAndrei Zhdanov, a native of the city who had become a high-ranking official of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union and a close ally toJoseph Stalin. The name was part of a larger effort to rename cities after high-ranking political figures in theSoviet Union. The historic name was restored in 1989.[5]
Beginning on 24 February 2022, athree-month-long siege by Russian forces largely destroyed the city, for which it was named a "Hero City of Ukraine" by the Ukrainian government.[7] On 16 May 2022, the last Ukrainian troops who remained in Mariupol surrendered at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, and the Russian military secured complete control over the city by 20 May.[8]
Neolithic burial grounds excavated on the shore of theSea of Azov[9] 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.[9]
From the 12th through the 16th century, the area around Mariupol was largely devastated and depopulated by intense conflict between theCrimean Tatars, theNogay Horde, theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, andMuscovy. By the middle of the 15th century, much of the region north of the Black and Azov Seas was annexed by theCrimean Khanate and became a dependency of theOttoman Empire. East of theDnieper River a desolatesteppe stretched to the Sea of Azov, where lack of water made early settlement precarious.[10] Being near theMuravsky Trail exposed it to frequentCrimean–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 theWild Fields or the 'Deserted Plains' (Campi Deserti in Latin).[11][12]
TheTreaty 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 theMius River. In 1709, in response to a Cossack alliance withSweden against Russia, TsarPeter the Great ordered theliquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich, and their complete and permanent expulsion from the area.[13] In 1733, Russia was preparing for anew military campaign against theOttoman Empire and therefore allowed the return of the Zaporozhians, although the territory officially belonged to Turkey.[14]
Map of the mouth of the Kalmius River from 1702
Under the Agreement ofLubny 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[clarification needed] on theDnieper River calledNew Sich, though the terms prohibited them from erecting fortifications. These terms allowed only for living quarters, in Ukrainian calledkureni.[14]
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.[15] The nearest district to modern Mariupol was the Kalmius District, but its border did not extend to the mouth of theKalmius River,[16] although this area had been part of its[clarification needed] migratory territory. After 1736, the Zaporozhian Cossacks and theDon Cossacks (whose capital was at nearbyNovoazovsk) came into conflict over the area, until TsarinaElizabeth issued a decree in 1746 declaring the Kalmius River the dividing line between the two Cossack hosts.[17]
Sometime after 1738,[18][19] the treaties ofBelgrade andNiš in 1739, in addition to the Russian-Turkish convention of 1741,[20] 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."[21] 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.[22] 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 theTreaty of Niš.[citation needed]
Thelast Tatar raid, launched in 1769, covered a vast area, overrunning the New Russian Province with a huge army in severe wintertime weather.[23][24] The raid destroyed the Kalmius fortifications and burned all the Cossack winter lodgings.[21] In 1770, the Russian government, during thewar 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),[25] thereby laying claim to the region, including the site of future Mariupol, from the Ottoman Empire.
After theRusso-Turkish War from 1768 to 1774, the governor of theAzov Governorate, Vasily A. Chertkov, reported toGrigory Potemkin on 23 February 1776 that ruins of ancientdomakhas (homes) had been found in the area, and in 1778 he planned the new town ofPavlovsk.[28] However, on 29 September 1779, the city of Marianοpol (Greek:Μαριανόπολη) in Kalmius County was founded on the site. For the Russian authorities the city was named after the Russian EmpressMaria Feodorovna; itsde facto title came from after theGreek settlement of Mariampol, a suburb ofBakhchysarai inCrimea. The name was derived from theHodegetria icon of the HolyTheotokos and theVirgin Mary.[29][30] Subsequently, in 1780, Russian authorities forcibly relocated many Orthodox Greeks from Crimea to the Mariupol area, in what is known as theEviction of Christians from the Crimea.[31]
In 1782, Mariupol was an administrative seat of itscounty in the Azov Governorate of theRussian 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.[32][33]
Mariupol in 1910
After the construction of the railway line fromYuzovka (later Stalino and Donetsk) to Mariupol in 1882, much of the wheat grown in theYekaterinoslav Governorate and coal from theDonets Basin were exported via the port of Mariupol (the second largest in the South Russian Empire afterOdesa), which served as a key funding source for opening a hospital, public library, electric power station and urban water supply system.[citation needed]
Mariupol remained a local trading centre until 1898, when the Belgian subsidiarySA Providence Russe opened a steelworks inSartana, a village near Mariupol (now theIlyich 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 theBanque de l'Union Parisienne.[34]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]
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 theBolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the subsequentRussian Civil War. In 1933, a new steelworks (Azovstal) was built along the Kalmius River.[citation needed]
World War II
Monument to the victims of the Second World War.[35]
During the occupation, the Germans focused on "the complete and quick destruction" of Mariupol'sJewish population, as part of theHolocaust.[36] The execution of the Jews of Mariupol was carried out by Sonderkommando 10A, which was part of Einsatzgruppe D. The leader was ObersturmbannführerHeinz Seetzen.[36] The Germans shot about 8,000 Mariupol Jews from 20 October 1941, to 21 October 1941.[36] By 21 November 1941, Mariupol was declaredJew-free.[36]
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Mariupol, also called "Menorah memorial"
The "Menorah memorial", or officially, the Mariupol Memorial to the Murdered Jews[39] is installed in a suburb of Mariupol in memory to the murdered Jews of the city.[40][41] The work consists of aseven-pointed menorah, aStar of David and two commemorative steles with inscriptions in Russian:[39][42]
Victims of the fascist genocide were shot here – the Jews of Mariupol. October 1941. May their souls be connected with the living[b]
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)
TheChoral 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.[43]
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 368POW camp in 1943.[44] Mariupol was liberated by the SovietRed Army on 10 September 1943.[37]
In 1948, Mariupol was renamed "Zhdanov", after the recently deceased closeStalin allyAndrei 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.[45]
The city remained peaceful until the end of August 2014, when DPR separatists together with a detachment of theRussian Armed Forcescaptured Novoazovsk, located 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of Mariupol near theRusso-Ukrainian border.[49] This followed anoffensive by pro-Russian forces from the east, which came within 16 kilometres (10 mi) of Mariupol, before an overnight counter-offensive pushed the separatists away from the city.[50] In September, the two sides agreed to aceasefire, halting that offensive. Minor skirmishes continued on the outskirts of Mariupol in the following months.[50]
Aftermath of the January 2015 rocket attack on Mariupol
Arocket attack on Mariupol was launched on 24 January 2015 by the Donetsk People's Republic,[51] from the village ofShyrokyne around 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) east of Mariupol city limits.[52]Grad rockets fired by separatist forces hit residential areas of Mariupol, killing at least 30 people.[53] ABellingcat investigative team concluded that the shelling was instructed, directed and supervised by Russian military commanders in active service with theRussian Ministry of Defence.[54] The attack exposed the city's vulnerability to separatist attacks. As a result, in February 2015, Ukrainian forceslaunched a surprise assault on Shyrokyne,[55] forcing the separatists out from Shyrokyne and neighbouring villages by July 2015.[56]
In May 2018, theCrimean Bridge was opened, linking mainland Russia toCrimea, which had beenannexed in 2014 in the opening stages of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[57] Russia "dramatically increased" the number of armed vessels in theKerch 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.[57] Therefore, Mariupol port workers were put on a four-day week schedule.[57] On 26 October 2018,The Globe and Mail reported that the bridge had reduced Ukrainian shipping from itsAzov Sea ports (including Mariupol) by about 25%.[58]
During the full-scaleRussian invasion of Ukraine of 2022, Mariupol was a strategic target for Russian forces and their proxies.[59] It came under artillery bombardment the day the invasion began,[60] and was placedunder siege by Russian forces.[61] By early March, a severe humanitarian crisis developed in the city,[62][63] which aRed Cross worker later described as "apocalyptic", citing food shortages and severe damage to infrastructure and access to sanitation.[64] The siege was also marked by numerouswar crimes committed by Russian forces,[65] most notably Russian airstrikes ona maternity hospital[66][67] anda drama theater serving as anair raid shelter for hundreds of civilians.[68]
The Azovstal plant during the siege
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 theAzovstal Iron and Steel Works, which contains a complex of bunkers and tunnels which could even resist anuclear bombing.[69] 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.[70][71]
When the fighting stopped, "as many as 90%" of residential buildings in Mariupol had been damaged or destroyed, according to theUnited Nations (UN)[72] and Ukrainian authorities.[73] Estimates for the number of civilian dead ranged from the UN's list of 1,348 confirmed deaths[74][75][76] to the Ukrainian claim of over 25,000.[77] Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky awarded Mariupol the title ofHero City of Ukraine due to Ukrainian forces' "valiant defense" of the city.[78]
Occupation
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 reverted to theirSoviet-era names.[79] The latter was especially controversial, as the Ukrainian authorities restored many historic names during thedecommunization process, all of which predated the Soviet Union.[80] Among other toponyms, "Freedom Square" was renamed "Lenin Square".[81]
Russian press picture of Mariupol in 2024 following Russian occupation and renovation
In August 2023, theInstitute for the Study of War reported that theUkrainian 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.[82]
The estimates of the pre-war population that remained in the city in 2024 vary from 80,000 to 120,000.[83][84][85] 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 80,000 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.[85]
In February 2024, theFinancial Times investigated Mariupol under Russian occupation. The Russians want to show their process of rebuilding and "Russifying" the city. Russian businessmen were profiting from contracts, but locals were living in half-built homes, with poor construction work plaguing dozens of apartment blocks across the city.[87]
In November 2024, Ukrainian MPMaxym Tkachenko said that around one third of the estimated 200,000 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.[88] A day later, he said that "There is no such data. It was my unfounded and emotional assumption."[89][90]
Geography
Mariupol is located in the south of theDonetsk Oblast, on the coast ofSea of Azov and at the mouth ofKalmius River. It is located in an area of the Azov Lowland that is an extension of the UkrainianBlack 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 166 km2 (64 sq mi), or 244 km2 (94 sq mi) including suburbs administered by the city council. The downtown area is 106 km2 (41 sq mi), while the area of parks and gardens is 80.6 km2 (31.1 sq mi).
The city is mainly built on land made ofsolonetzic (sodium enriched)chernozem, with a significant amount of underground subsoil water, that frequently leads to landslides.
Climate
Mariupol has ahumid continental climate (Köppen climate classificationDfa) with warm summers and cold winters. The average annual precipitation is 511 millimetres (20 in). 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.
Climate data for Mariupol (1991–2020, extremes 1955–present)
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 theUSSR (afterNovokuznetsk andMagnitogorsk) 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:
In the residential areas adjoining the industrial giants, concentrations ofbenzopyrene 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, andhydrogen 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.
Ill-considered locations of theAzovstal 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 nearbySea 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.
PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy at the opening of Mariupol Ice Center on 22 October 2020
The Mariupol electorate traditionally supportedleft wing (socialist and communist) and pro-Russian political parties. At the turn of the 21st century theParty of Regions numerically prevailed in theMariupol City Council, followed by theSocialist Party of Ukraine. Besides the city council, the local population in Mariupol also vote for deputies in theDonetsk Oblast Council on a regional level and theVerkhovna Rada on a national level.
Thede jure mayor (chairman of executive committee of the city council) of the city is Ukrainian politicianVadym Boychenko.[1] In theOctober 2020 local elections he was re-elected with 64.57% of the votes as a candidate of the Vadym Boychenko Bloc.[1] In these mayoral elections Volodymyr Klymenko ofOpposition Platform — For Life received 25.84% of the vote, self-nominated candidate Lydia Mugli received 4.72%, the candidate fromFor the Future Yulia Bashkirova received 1.68% and the nominee fromOur Land Mykhailo Klyuyev received 0.99% of the votes.[1] Voter turnout in the election was 27%.[95]
In the concurrent election in the council, theOpposition Bloc received a landslide victory. Out of a total of 54 deputies, 45 of them were part of the Opposition Bloc party, 5 were fromPower of the People party, and 4 fromOur Land party.[96]
Kalmiuskyi District (until June 2016 named Illichivsk District after VladimirIlyich Lenin[99]) 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.
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 "thePort".
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 1917Bolshevik revolution.
TheKalmius 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 largeIllich Steel and Iron Works and the Azovmashmanufacturing plant. The Livoberezhnyi (Left Bank) is home to the Azovstal metallurgic combine and the Koksokhim (Coke and Chemical) factory. The settlements ofStaryi Krym andSartana are located in close proximity to the city limits of Mariupol (see map).
Coat of arms
The moderncoat 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 goldanchor has a ring on top. The number 1778 indicates the year of the city's founding. Theargent represents steel; theazure, the sea; the anchor, the port; and the ring, metallurgy.
City holidays
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
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 byUkrainians,Russians,Pontic Greeks (includingCaucasus Greeks and Tatar- and Turkish-speaking but Greek Orthodox ChristianUrums),Belarusians,Armenians,Jews, etc. The main language is Russian.
Mariupol population density
The population fell precipitously as the result of thesiege 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.[3][102]
Ethnic structure
The city is largely and traditionallyRussian-speaking, while ethnically the population is divided about evenly between Ukrainians and Russians. There is also a significant ethnicGreek minority in the city.
In 2002, ethnicUkrainians 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%.[103]
The city is home to the largest population ofPontic 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.
The city is predominantly Russian speaking. From 60% to 80% of Ukrainian-language inhabitants communicate inSurzhyk, due to the large influence of Russian culture.
Most Greek-speaking villages in the region speak a dialect calledRumeíka, a branch ofPontic Greek. About 17 villages speak this language today. Modern scholars distinguish five subdialects of Rumeíka according to their similarity to standardModern Greek. This was derived from the dialect of the original Pontic settlers from theCrimea. 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.[104]
The village ofAnadol speaks Pontic proper, being settled from thePontos in the 19th century. After theOctober 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 poetGeorgi 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 ofJoseph Stalin's national policies.[105]
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.[105]
Along with those speaking Rumeíka, there were and are a number ofTatar-speaking Orthodox villages, the so-calledUrums, which is the Tatar term for Romaios or Rumei. This subdivision had already occurred in Crimea before the settlement of the Azov Seasteppe region byPontic Greeks which began following the fall of theEmpire of Trebizond in northeasternAnatolia in 1461. It occurred on a larger scale after the end of theRusso-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, thelanguage of the Urums was thelingua franca of the region for a long time, being called the language of thebazaar.
There are also a number of settlements of other ethnic communities, includingGermans,Bulgarians, andAlbanians (though the meanings of all such terms in this context is open to dispute).
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.[115][116][124][125]
In addition to churches, there are 3 mosques around the city.[citation needed]
Economy
Employment
In 2009, the official rate of unemployment in the city was 2%.[129] The figure, however, only includes people registered as "unemployed" in the local job centre. The real unemployment rate was therefore higher.
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) andchemical plants; there was also an important seaport and a railroad junction. The largest enterprises wereIlyich 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 inmetallurgy 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 forDonetsk Oblast. The leading business of the city wasferrous 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 anintegrated mill, with all the facilities for a full metallurgical cycle. Housing around 100 thousand workers, it wa the second largest in Ukraine, afterKryvorizhstal. 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), achemist's network Ilyich-Pharm, more than 50agro shops (formercollective farms of the south of Donetsk andZaporizhzhia Oblasts), the office of the Komsomol Mines, various machine-building enterprises in theCherkasy 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 ofpig-iron, steel, and rolled iron annually. The company's general director was Oleksiy Bilyi. Azovstal was closely connected with the Mariupolcoke 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 bySystem Capital Management, a Donetsk financial and economic group.
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 ofores and grains from and to various cities such asDonetsk,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, andTaganrog (Russia).
The above-mentioned enterprises, along with a plethora of others not mentioned, are located in the free economic zone ofAzov.
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 (afterKyiv andZaporizhzhia).
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).
Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater. In 2003 the oldest theater in the region celebrated its 125th anniversary.[133] For its contribution to the spiritual education of theater, in 2000 it was awarded the laureate in the "Gold Scythian" competition. The theatre waslargely destroyed by Russian airstrikes on 16 March 2022.[134]
Cinemas
Pobeda ("Victory") – now closed
Savona
Multiplex
A folk dance ensemble performing in Mariupol
Palaces of culture (recreation centres) (together with clubs – 16):
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.
Art and literature
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.
Festivals
Crowd listening toIvan Dorn 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.[135][136]
Gogolfest is an annual multidisciplinary internationalfestival ofcontemporary 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.[137]
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 22 to 24 °C (72–75 °F). The duration of the bathing season is 120 days.
Parks
Theatre Square in August 2019
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)
Petrovsky Park (near the modernVolodymyr Boiko Stadium and constructions of "Azovmash" basketball club, Kalmiuskyi District)
Primorsky Park (Prymorsky District)
Monuments
Mariupol has monuments toVladimir 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).
Entrance to the city gardens
Mariupol is known for its many memorials, statues and sculptures, including the bust of Mariupol-born painterArkhip Kuindzhi, a statue ofTaras 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 ofAndrei 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 actressMarina 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.
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 followingdekulakisation. 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 Soviet9th Aviation Division. The artists V. Konstantynov and L. Kuzminkov are the sculptors of some of the monuments, including the monument toMetropolitan Ignatiy, the founder of Mariupol, (1715–1786, canonized in 1998 by the Orthodox Church) recently erected near St. Nicholas Cathedral.
Infrastructure
This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(April 2022)
Old Mariupol is an area defined by the coast of theSea of Azov to the south, theKalmius 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 afterWorld 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.
Urban architecture in central Mariupol
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.[clarification needed] 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%.[clarification needed]
Mariupol has been almost completely destroyed during the ongoing Russian Invasion of Ukraine.[138]
Main streets
Avenues: Miru, Metalurhiv, Budivelnykiv, Ilyich, Nakhimov, Peremohy, Lunin, and Leningradsky (in Livoberezhnyi District)
Routes of urban electric transports in MariupolDaily passenger traffic intensity in Mariupol
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):
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.
Health service
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 theMariupol regional intensive care hospital.
Education
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).
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.)
Public organizations
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]
FC Mariupol is afootball 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 theKalmius River. Vitaly Yepishkin – third place in the World Cup in the 200mK-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.
After Russia set up an occupational administration in Mariupol, it was twinned with Saint-Petersburg on 24 May 2022[142] and Grozny on 10 August 2023. An art symbol of the twinning was unveiled onPalace Square in Saint Petersburg, which was later defaced and removed by unknown people.[143]
^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.
^Magocsi, Paul R. "A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples," p. 197
^Wilson, Andrew. "The Donbas between Ukraine and Russia: The Use of History in Political Disputes," Journal of Contemporary History 1995 30: 265 "
^Magocsi, Paul R. "A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples," p. 197.
^abN. 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.
^Magocsi, Paul R. 2010. "A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its People," University of Toronto Press. Second edition. P. 283.
^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.
^Wilson, Andrew. "The Donbas between Ukraine and Russia: The Use of History in Political Disputes," Journal of Contemporary History 1995 30: 273
^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.
^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
^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
^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. 278
^Mikhail Kizilov. "Slave Trade in the Early Modern Crimea From the Perspective of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources". Oxford University., p. 7 with n. 11
^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
^It is a cultural property of a historical place indexed in the Ukrainian heritage register (Special Awards: Єврейська спадщина) under the reference 14-123-0029
^Sangal, Aditi; Vogt, Adrienne; Wagner, Meg; Ramsay, George; Guy, Jack; Regan, Helen (10 March 2022)."Russian forces bombed a maternity and children's hospital. Here's what we know about the siege of Mariupol".CNN.Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved11 March 2022.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.
^abKissilier, Maxim, ed. (2009),Language and Ethno-Cultural Situation in Greek Villages of Azov Region(PDF), St. Petersburg,archived(PDF) from the original on 12 March 2022, retrieved28 February 2013{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). 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.
^Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий):Мариупольские храмы вчера и сегодня (churches of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991
^Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий):Мариупольская старина (history of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991
^Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий):Мариупольские храмы вчера и сегодня (Churches of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991
^Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий):Мариупольская старина (History of Mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991
^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 1991
^Lew Yarutsky (Лев Давидович Яруцкий):Мариупольская старина (english: history of mariupol), Коллектив, предприятие «Мариупол. инж. центр экон. и социал. развития», Мариуполь 1991
^Grinevetsky, Sergei R.; Zonn, Igor S.; Zhiltsov, Sergei S.; Kosarev, Aleksey N.; Kostianoy, Andrey G. (30 September 2014).The Black Sea Encyclopedia. Springer. p. 516.ISBN978-3-642-55227-4.Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved12 July 2022.
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