Ironically, when the moment arrived to defend the city from Russian invaders, it was another part of Mariupol's Soviet-era legacy that came to play an almost iconic role. Sitting underground at night, he sensed people becoming passive. The couple eventually reached the city of Khmelnytskyi where they have been selling the family's coin collection in order to survive. The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works can be seen in the background of the city of Mariupol, Ukraine, in 2007. His extended family remains in Mariupol, among them his nephew, who kept the diary as they huddled together in a basement bomb shelter. IE 11 is not supported. Get your need-to-know "It was a wonderful warm city with parks, concerts, fountains," his wife says. So why exactly is Russian President Vladimir Putin interested in Luhansk and Donetsk? Some 21,000 civilians are thought to have died during Russias assault of the city, while another 100,000 still await evacuation. We're not done yet! But the port, seen here in October 2018,was of particulareconomic interest. "We are our own worst enemies," he writes. Thats all.. In an apartment in the same block, metallurgists from the nearby steelworks, Nataliia, 43, and Andrii, 41, were already slicing the last two loaves they had been able to buy, leaving them to dry out so they could eat them piece by piece over the weeks ahead. About 150,000 people remain in the city, from a population of almost half a million. Sign up for Grid Today and get the context you need on the most important stories of the day. But is this, he wonders, how the fittest survive? Greece's consul general in Mariupol, who arrived home after escaping the siege, describes the southern Ukrainian city as standing alongside Guernica, Leningrad and Russia's previous targets Grozny and Aleppo. Faced with Russian threats on a number of fronts, the Zelensky government chose to secure the capital, thwarting what was arguably Vladimir Putin's top priority. Among the entries the boy drew pictures of tanks, burning buildings and helicopter gunships. What Russia described as a mass surrender, the Ukrainians say was a mission fulfilled. Read about our approach to external linking. But then the fighting in 2014 began. Unfortunately, no, the city is big," the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, as saying. She said agreement had been reached with Russia on creating eight humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from besieged towns and cities on Monday but Mariupol was not among them. Meanwhile, Russia's President Vladimir Putin has been widely condemned for his attack on Ukraine. It offered good protection, and Ivan found that the muffling of sound dulled his sense of mounting anxiety. In his diary's poignant epilogue, he writes of flashbacks, text messages about deaths or lucky escapes, and phone calls that go unanswered. Ukrainian authorities say the regiment's origins are a thing of the past and points out that far-right parties have had very little electoral success. The criticism against German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been unrelenting. A small boy wrote that his city has died, Evgeny Sosnovsky said. Read about our approach to external linking. Volodymyr, the paramedic, stayed in Mariupol as long as he could, to look after his elderly mother. On some days, it was targeted by dozens of explosions. "Together they formed a 'Nazi' battalion and intimidated the entire Russian army," he writes. Excursions in search of food, even to the nearby Dzerkalnyy store, just 400m up the road, were increasingly perilous. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 2022 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved. He described Mariupol as standing alongside Guernica, Leningrad and Russia's previous targets Grozny and Aleppo. Roughly a century later, the port city became a key transit point for exports of wheat second in size only to Odessa an economic role it continued to play until the current war began. Jackie Padilla is a journalist and video producer for Grid leading the social video team and studio production. My grandma went for water and returned. Along with the depictions of war are more innocent pictures. Eastern Ukraine was already seeing fighting and tension at the time in the surrounding Donbas region, but the theater, still intact,was still a place of cultural exchange. "This is a city of hard workers It was hard for me to explain that my workers should finish at 6pm - they wanted to work longer.". For all the praise heaped on the city's defenders, it was clear from the start that Mariupol was not the government's main priority. My two dogs were killed, and my grandma Halya, he wrote. It's hard to tell that this was once a place where people came to relax. Vladimir Putin has made extensive use of the Azov's controversial origins, in an effort to bolster his argument that he is trying to "de-Nazify" Ukraine. We use cookies to improve our service for you. Over 1,000 civilians, including children,had sought refuge in the building, which was being used as an air raid shelter. Mom is the first, I am the second and my sister is third. Most of those left there, he says, are also trying to escape. The southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol was once a thriving port city and vacation spot, with a population of about 440,000. It hadn't always been this way. In that same convoy, Yevhen travelled with his wife and two other relatives. Jake Garcia is a documentary filmmaker and multimedia producer for Grid. The capture of the strategic port city would allow Moscow to link the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, with the separatist regions of the Donbas that it now controls, and on to the Russian border. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. A portion of downtown Mariupol, Ukraine, before the war.

(Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty), A woman stands in the courtyard of a destroyed building in Mariupol on April 29. Long before this year's invasion, Mariupol had a ringside seat to Ukraine's simmering conflict with Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that make up the neighbouring area known as Donbas. The Russian army has regrouped and is concentrating its attacks on eastern Ukraine. "There are thousands and thousands of families like mine," he says. His buildings restoration firm was responsible, among other projects, for the reconstruction of Mariupol's iconic water tower in time for the city's 240th birthday. Mariupols martyrdom first came into focus with the March 9 Russian airstrike on a maternity hospital, then with another airstrike a week later on a theater that was serving as the citys largest bomb shelter, with the word CHILDREN written in Russian on the pavement outside to deter an attack. My mother has a hole in her leg, his entry for April 3 reads. "It started receiving all of the resources and all of the attention," Ivan says. "Some are waiting for spring, some - for the morning to come, some - for the end of the war. So inevitably, when the war came, culture found itself fought over too. The following day, Nataliia and Andreii left, after a neighbour offered them a space in his car. Training on the use of the bunkers and their connecting tunnels went on every day for years. Damaged buildings and equipment surround the Azovstal plant in Mariupol on April 22. After independence in 1991, no-one thought that much about them. "I left Mariupol but my soul is there," he says, tears in his eyes. 2022 Deutsche Welle | The dead were among thousands of people who Ukrainian officials estimate have been killed in the city since the conflict began. Whatever it once was, and whatever happens next, Mariupol has already joined other cities Aleppo, Sarajevo, Grozny to name a few which will be forever linked to wartime destruction and allegations of crimes against humanity. The Azovstal iron and steelworks is one of the largest in Europe. Mariupol, a port city on the Azov Sea, has been under siege and bombardment, with no food, medicine, power or fresh water, since the early days of Russia's invasion on February 24. In this picturetaken on June 20, 2019, children play in the water fountains of a park in the city center. They spent long days at work, and leisure time was precious. This recent blossoming was captured by Ivan, but as a photographer with a passion for his city's past, his pet project was documenting Mariupol's remarkable collection of Soviet murals, one of the most extensive in Ukraine. [The Russians] don't need thinking people, they need territory," he says. 600 people were killed, inside and outside the theater, gives President Vladimir Putin an elusive military victory. "For me, this is a [key] question - if you want to capture the city, why destroy it? In a poll conducted just before the elections by the Kyiv-based Centre for Social Indicators, almost half the city's population identified themselves as "Russian", though 80% also described themselves as "Ukrainian".

On 28 April, Mariupol's city council denounced the alleged theft by Russia of more than 2,000 exhibits from the city's museums, including ancient icons, a handwritten Torah scroll and more than 200 medals.

What is NATO and which countries are members? The ambulance dispatcher was on the phone. "The Stone Age has arrived," he says in his 6 March entry. He kept a vivid diary, later published online. "We broke trees, made fires, cooked food on fires. Between 1,000 and 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers reportedly remain in the complex,as well as hundreds of civilians. He's now in Dnipro, helping other residents who escaped Mariupol, and trying to reach those who remain. He could always pick it up the next day. I had to think about what I'd eat and drink [And] what to do with the cats.". "A European city.". People who once queued for food were now in "the queue of the dead", waiting to be buried. In his diary Ivan describes the members he knows as a motley assortment of Mariupol natives - bikers, lawyers, football hooligans, and an amateur actor - driven not by ideology, but by a fierce hatred of those who were trying to ruin their lives. The ruined seaside city of Mariupol, whose capture has become a key Russian objective, is now irrevocably etched into Ukrainian history, regardless of the outcome of the war. The theatre has often been described as the heart of the city, Ivan Stanislavsky loved to photograph his city of Mariupol, The Illich steel plant dominates this view of Mariupol, The Mariupol seafront was a beloved destination, An activist guards a barricade outside the Mariupol government building seized by pro-Russia activists on 17 April 2014, Volodymyr thinks the Russian-backed separatists were motivated by revenge, Ivan's photograph of Mariupol's iconic water tower, Businessman Yevhen is already getting calls from Russians to rebuild Mariupol, Mariupol's industry makes for a dramatic backdrop, Mariia says that after the invasion she began to hate all things Russian, An injured Ukrainian serviceman inside the Azovstal iron and steel works factory, President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and children play in a fountain during his first official visit to Mariupol on 15 June 2019, Ivan's photo of the inside of the water tower, The apartment block where Ivan lived has been destroyed, The children's camp that became an execution ground, Pinned down by Russian fire in key village. "Some say Mariupol was given the status of a hero city," Ivan wrote in his diary on 13 March. Russia claimed yesterday that it had taken the citys port and that more than 1,000 marines had surrendered.

The old water tower in Mariupol, Ukraine in 2021. Zelensky has continuously pushed for aid and support from world leaders, as well as pressing for fast-tracked NATO membership. When I read the diaries for the first time it was almost impossible. Stores, homes and the school where his children studied all obliterated by the constant bombardment. NBC News is not naming the boy and his relatives because they fear for their safety. The UK Ministry of Defence said the continued defence of Mariupol is currently tying down significant numbers of Russian troops and equipment, slowing the expected assault on the wider Donbas region. The last time the city suffered great loss and damage was during the German military occupation of World War II.

As they made their way out of Mariupol, their convoy came under attack and the cars had to accelerate out of danger, headed first to Zaporizhzhia, then to Dnipro. Troops have warned they are running out of ammunition, while many people in Mariupol have been suffering from shortages in food, fuel and medicine. But the reality of childhood in a city under siege broke through. Four days into the war, with the fighting closing in, Ivan and his wife sought shelter in a basement underneath his local supermarket.

"Find the wounded", he was told. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk. He's been accused of stalling and breaking his promises over sending heavy weapons to Ukraine. As the days went by, the war got closer and closer to Ivan Stanislavsky's apartment. Svitlana also survived. The southern city on the Azov Sea even boasted of having the warmest bathing waterin all of Ukraine. We are waiting to be bandaged. Pictures of Mariupol today show sheer destruction. Later came steel production; in 1933, the sprawling Azovstal steelworks were built. My grandfather died. The code has been copied to your clipboard. Learn more. In January 2015, a devastating rocket attack by the rebels on the eastern edge of the city killed almost 30 civilians. Russia's Defence Ministry has blamed "Ukrainian nationalists" for the situation in Mariupol. Money began to pour in, adding lustre to a city previously associated mainly with heavy industry - and war. And safe to say that today the name is synonymous with destruction, suffering and trauma. The director of Mariupol's Local History Museum, Natalia Kapustnikova, later told Russian newspaper Izvestia that she had personally handed over paintings to the Russians by Ivan Aivazovsky and Arkhip Kuindzhi, and claimed that Ukrainian "nationalists" had burned 95% of the museum's exhibits. Russia denies targeting civilians. How many families have been lost?". I have a wound on my back, torn skin. "I didn't have time to think about my future, my plans. He began methodically documenting the citys destruction by shelling and airstrikes. It suddenly dawned on her why, in the past few days, soldiers had appeared in the paint shop where she worked, asking to buy blue and yellow tape. 2022 BBC. Legal notice | Who is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky? "We lived like primitive people," he told the BBC from Lviv, where he has now fled. The scale of destruction of Mariupol is shown by these photos from before and after Russias invasion of Ukraine. She is funny and has nice parents.. More than any other Ukrainian city, Mariupol has come to symbolise the ferocious brutality of Russia's assault and the stubbornness of Ukraine's resistance. This photo of the industrial complex dates back to 2017. A Russian airstrike hit the maternity hospital on 9 March, and a plane bombed its theatre - clearly marked as a civilian shelter - a week later. "We started thinking about what we would do if fighting spread further into the city," Enver Tskitishvili, Azovstal's director general, says. A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine said it would take more than a week to take control of Mariupol. But on Thursday, as he stood in the street outside his locked and deserted office, he could hear thunderous sounds rolling in from the east. Daily life was being stripped down to bare essentials. One evening a drunk woman interrupts a session of evening gossip in the basement. And someone is waiting for the bomb to come and kill everyone.". Trains travel within the Illich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol in 2007. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the country has suffered widespread damages and loss of life amid a major bombing campaign. Russia looking poised to fully take over the city. How to talk to children about whats happening in Ukraine. Plans were afoot, he said, for the largest water park in Ukraine and a version of Disneyland "which will probably be called Mariland". Mariupols renowned drama theater before the war. I started to move my body, and I realized I was alive. He added that he could not hear and that he had a concussion. The factory is also one of the largest employers in Mariupol, apart from the port. The city was under fire. Does Russia have any allies and what have they said about Ukraine? Video footage of the city shows it has been devastated. By Paul Adams in London and Hugo Bachega in DniproBBC News. The precise number of civilian casualties is unknown, with estimates in the thousands. She instructed Volodymyr to ignore routine calls. Earlier in the invasion, Russia was accused of violating agreements on safe routes out of Mariupol by shelling humanitarian corridors. Ivan was stunned at how quickly it all happened. Perhaps his most dramatic images were captured after a shell hit his 90-year-old mother-in-law Mariyashouse when he was searching for his wife, Svitlana, 56, in late March. Struggling to speak, Evgeny Sosnovsky held the picture he took ofhis 8-year-old nephews diary entry. When fighting first broke out there in 2014, the government briefly lost control of Mariupol after clashes with pro-Russian protesters. (Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images), Ukrainian people walk by shops in Mariupol on Sept. 6, 2014, after a ceasefire was signed between Ukraine and pro-Kremlin insurgents. The 83 days of the defense of Mariupol will go down in history as Thermopylae of the 21st century, said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraines president. Sometimes, a Ukrainian mortar team would arrive by truck, fire off a few rounds, and leave before the inevitable Russian reply. With additional reporting by Kateryna Khinkulova and Illia Tolstov. They were killed to a man, including their king. In the end, a small group of outgunned and outmanned nationalist fighters held out for months, drawing Russian airstrikes, artillery and tank fire down upon the massive Azovstal steel plant, where they made their last stand. Ukraine's military says its combat mission in the besieged port is over. But still Ukraines armed forces concede that Mariupol is on the brink of being conquered. Greece's consul general in Mariupol, Manolis Androulakis, who arrived home on Sunday after escaping the siege, said: "What I saw, I hope no one will ever see." Intimidating and effective, but not enough, eventually, to stem the Russian tide.

People have been burying their loved ones in their yards. Thermopylae is widely considered one of historys most glorious defeats, in which 300 Spartans held off a much larger Persian force in 480 B.C. Maxar satellite imagery shows heavy damage to residential apartment buildings in the Livoberezhnyi District in Mariupol on April 29. "It was a city aspiring to something," Ivan says. Hundreds are thought to have been killed. A war timeline of important events. For seven weeks, Ukrainian fighters have managed to hold out amid a brutal medieval-style siege. In this picture, taken on August 30, 2014, a young woman protests Russia's annexation of Crimea with the Ukrainian flag. He watched as order gradually broke down all around him. The same church can be seen in more recentpictures, such as this one taken on April 1, 2022. The Illich Iron and Steel Works spans much of Mariupol in 2007. While the city's defenders fought their losing battle, Ivan heard voices in his basement starting to curse President Zelensky for leaving Mariupol to its own devices. Many residents worked for companies that were directly or indirectly linked to activity at the harbor, exportingiron, steel, grainand machines around the world.