Ukraine war: Mariupol residents deny Russian stories about the city
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Mariupol’s new rulers have given residents a choice — get Russian passports, or lose your home
Russia has controlled Mariupol for about three years. Residents say they have been cut off from the outside world. Russia is using social media influencers to fight its war from inside the city. Some Ukrainian men have even been recruited to fight for Moscow’s military. But millions of Ukrainians are still living in territories occupied by Kremlin forces. They are terrified that speaking the truth will draw recriminations from their new Russian overlords, but some have chosen to do it anyway. They say they cannot work, have jobs and receive salaries without Russian passports. The medical service is much worse. There are long lines everywhere. I don’t see it. If we manage to sell our property, we’ll move,” says Natalia. She said Russia was holding “patriotic demonstrations” in the city and that in schools, students were being taught the Russian language and history. “There are lots of events in town meant to bring up patriots on TV on recruiting contract soldiers for the army, and schools have many events teaching lessons of historical glory,” she said.
Vladimir Putin’s forces captured the city on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast in the early stages of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Life there has changed significantly for the residents who remained.
To keep their homes and access to basic services — including health care — they’ve been forced to become Russian citizens.
Some Ukrainian men have even been recruited to fight for Moscow’s military.
Accurate accounts of what life is like inside Mariupol today are scarce, with many people terrified that speaking the truth will draw recriminations from their new Russian overlords.
Some have chosen to do it anyway.
This mural on the side of a Mariupol apartment building is dedicated to the Russian forces that took control of the city. (Reuters: Alexander Ermochenko)
Larisa spoke to the ABC through a third party. Some details about her life and family, including her last name, have not been included in this story to protect her identity.
She said the only way to survive in Mariupol now was to become Russian.
“To save our property, we have to receive a Russian passport. We cannot receive any medical treatment without it,” she said.
“We cannot work, have jobs and receive salaries without Russian passports.”
She described Mariupol as “now part of Russia” and said there were “ears and eyes everywhere”, which made it very dangerous to criticise Mr Putin or the Kremlin.
“Many new people are coming from Siberia or even [the] Far East. They buy the real estate that once used to be the property of Ukrainians,” she said.
The siege of Mariupol in the early days of the war is seared into the hearts and minds of Ukrainians and people from around the world.
Just days after Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022, the port city was under relentless shelling and found itself surrounded by Kremlin forces.
Russia has controlled Mariupol for about three years.
Ukrainians still living in the city say they have been cut off from the outside world due to Russia’s censored media environment.
When Mariupol was under siege, 49-year-old Natalia and her family lived in their basement using fire to cook their food and radiators to source hot water.
They escaped in late March 2022 but returned a year and a half later to care for stranded elderly relatives.
They took Russian passports in 2023 because without them they couldn’t access health care, medicine or take possession of their own home.
“There are [a] lot of newcomers of different nationalities in Mariupol these days,” Natalia told the ABC.
” The medical service is much worse. There are long lines everywhere. ”
Natalia also said Russia was holding “patriotic demonstrations” in the city and that in schools, students were being taught the Russian language and history.
“There are lots of events in town meant to bring up patriots. They constantly play adverts on TV on recruiting contract soldiers for the army, and schools have many events teaching lessons of historical glory,” she said.
She said the Young Army Movement — an organisation set up by presidential decree 10 years ago and designed to give Russia’s youth military training — was active in the community, working with schools and sporting groups to promote Moscow’s messaging.
Natalia is trying to sell her apartment but is finding it difficult to secure the documents needed to comply with the laws Russia has imposed.
”There is no future in Mariupol. I don’t see it. If we manage to sell our property, we’ll move,” she said.
“For now, we’re still registering our documents. We don’t know how long it will take.”
Russia uses ‘simple’ scheme to take homes
An estimated 350,000 residents fled Mariupol to escape Russian occupation, leaving their homes and possessions behind.
But millions of Ukrainians are still living in territories occupied by Kremlin forces.
Far from the front line, Moscow is fighting a very different skirmish.
After destroying villages and cities during its invasion and the battles that followed, it’s now using social media influencers to fight its propaganda war from inside occupied territories like Mariupol.
This video, posted by a young influencer and liked more than 20,000 times, promotes Russia’s rebuilding of Mariupol.
The man says, sarcastically: “Oh God, what are Russians doing with Mariupol! Take a look, it’s a house being built, not demolished!
“Right, aha, they are building houses. Look at the builders over there.”
In his account biography, the man references the Donetsk People’s Republic, which was an illegitimate state created by Russian-backed paramilitary groups in south-eastern Ukraine in the years before they were invaded by Mr Putin.
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Another video on Instagram provides a tour inside a new apartment building in Mariupol, spruiking a new borough Moscow claims to have built in the city.
“Amazing flats, wonderful houses, stunning backyards, plenty of playgrounds, sportsgrounds — you have everything you need,” the man filming it says.
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Meanwhile, this post with more than 30,000 likes flicks through pictures showing parts of the city destroyed during Russia’s invasion contrasted with images of new construction.
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Elina Beketova, from the Washington DC-based Centre for European Policy Analysis, has created a database tracking what goes on inside occupied parts of Ukraine, including how homes are being seized by Russian authorities.
“So how is Moscow doing it? The scheme is simple. They label housing as ownerless and nationalise it,” she said.
“To prevent this, property owners must first obtain a Russian passport and then confirm ownership of the property in person.
“Without this confirmation, the property is transferred to municipal ownership before being auctioned, rented or given to local citizens who are loyal to the occupiers.”
Ms Beketova has discovered that the scheme offers Russian citizens very cheap loans of 2 per cent to encourage them to populate the captured territories.
The scale of the property transfer is believed to be more than 5,000 in Mariupol and some reports suggest it tallies up to hundreds of thousands across all Russian captured territories.
Liudmyla Zavaliei and Andrii Pazushko fled Mariupol for Kyiv several years ago. (Supplied: Andriy Dubchak)
Andrii Pazushko and Liudmyla Zavaliei are among the thousands of Ukrainians finding out their home could be seized.
The couple fled Mariupol with their two children and dog on March 16, 2022, deciding it was no longer safe to stay.
With nothing but a tiny suitcase full of their most valuable treasures, they passed through 21 Russian checkpoints to reach safety.
“We witnessed a disaster. We were forced to leave Mariupol. We wouldn’t peacefully live with Russians since we were part of the pro-Ukrainian volunteer movement,” Liudmyla said.
“Our lives would be at risk. That’s why we had to leave.”
Their home was partially destroyed when their neighbourhood came under heavy shelling.
Now living in Kyiv, the couple are worried their home could be taken.
“After the Russians rushed into Mariupol, they started claiming all the housing as theirs. They started changing ownerships and appropriating the housing,” Andrii said.
Liudmyla’s father is currently living in their home, but she fears it will soon be confiscated.
“I can’t get the house back, ‘legalise it’, as Russians say, and prove it as my property despite my father living here right now,” she said.
She said because her Ukrainian documents weren’t accepted, she had to present them to a Russian consulate outside her country or return to Mariupol, which she feared would lead to her detention.
“It’s not just confiscation, it’s also theft. They steal people’s property, refusing to return and threatening their lives, blackmailing them,” Liudmyla said.
Parts of Mariupol were severely damaged at the time Russia claimed control of the city in May 2022. (Reuters: Alexander Ermochenko)
Moscow is also using various forms of so-called “Russification” to erase Ukrainian culture.
“They are militarising education, creating different camps that are very militarised, ideological, propagandist camps … to force teenagers to believe that they are with the Russian world, that their motherland is Russia,” Ms Beketova said.
She said Moscow had allocated more than $1 billion this year to “patriotic education” in Russia and that much of that was being spent in schools within occupied Ukrainian territories.
“They want to control the local population, they want to control teenagers,” Ms Beketova said.
“They basically take kids and teenagers from occupied territories, they bring them to Moscow and St Petersburg, they show them some local museums, cultural centres.
“But it’s all done with the aim to erase their Ukrainian identity.”
Ms Beketova said between 55,000 and 60,000 Ukrainian men from the occupied territories had been “forcibly mobilised” into Russia’s military.
“At this point, we don’t know what the real number is, but I found the data from also National Resistance centre that said some of the villages and small towns in the Donetsk Oblast didn’t have any men left because they [Russia] conscripted them all,” she said.
While Ukraine and Russia are in the early stages of ceasefire negotiations, the future of the occupied territories remains a significant point of contention.
The idea of Mariupol being returned to Ukraine as part of some sort of peace process appears unlikely.
For those who fled the city, an end to the war can’t come soon enough, but not at all costs.
“This whole concept of the territory being recognised as Russia’s is more than just painful, but unacceptable,” Andrii said.
“Many people admitted that they will perceive this as a defeat and a betrayal by their state.”
Ukraine war: Mariupol residents deny Russian stories about the city
Mariupol has been under Russian control for over three years. The city has been suffering from a lack of water and electricity. Residents have been protesting against the Russian government’s actions in the region. They have also been protesting about the lack of food and water.
When: Just over three years since Mariupol was taken (early months of full-scale invasion), recent months (pro-Russia influencers’ videos), late last year (Olha Onyshko escaped), May (World War Two Victory Day celebrations).
Where: Mariupol (Ukraine), Ternopil (Ukraine), Dnipro (Ukraine), Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Odesa, Crimea, Dnipropetrovsk regions (Ukraine), Russia, Belarus.
Why: Russian authorities are presenting a false narrative of recovery in Mariupol; residents want to reveal the true conditions and resist occupation; resistance groups aim to provide moral support and intelligence to the Ukrainian military and sabotage operations.
How: Russian media shows repaired facades on main streets; residents provide testimonies of widespread ruins, poor living conditions, and propaganda in schools; Ukrainian resistance groups spray paint messages, paste leaflets, collect intelligence on Russian military movements, and sabotage operations (e.g., railway line disruption).
‘Nowhere is safe in Belgorod’: Fears grip Russian region bordering Ukraine
President Putin has ordered a buffer zone after repeated deadly attacks that have shaken residents. Belgorod, the capital of the eponymous region, occupies a strategic place in the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict. The deadliest incident took place on December 30, 2023, when a barrage of rocket fire struck the city during New Year celebrations. More than 200 residents of the region have died as a result of hostilities since 2022, according to the local Russian governor. A report cited by the Washington Post, purportedly leaked by Ukrainian intelligence, claims that in the 12 months preceding April 2024, Russian warplanes accidentally dropped 38 bombs on the Bel Gorod region. Russian forces have yet to secure and secure the area to secure the Ukrainian attacks and continue to secure it from Ukrainian attacks, though as of July, Russian forces had fully secured the area and were in a position to protect it from counterattacks from Ukrainian forces. The situation has attracted nationwide attention. A grocery delivery service named Samokat has launched a feature enabling users from anywhere in Russia to buy food, hygiene and baby products.
On May 12, Alexander’s apartment shook and his window shattered as his city of Belgorod, in the Russian region bordering Ukraine, came under attack.
“The neighbouring building was badly damaged, and two or three buildings along the roof had collapsed,” said the 31-year-old IT worker.
He called his landlady to talk about the damage to the apartment, but she did not pick up. The roof of her building had caved in during the assault.
“A lot of lads ran over from neighbouring buildings to sift through the rubble,” he said. “She died. The roof had collapsed, too, and the volunteers thought surely everyone had died, but they managed to save a few people even after that.”
In total, 15 people were killed and 16 were rescued from the rubble.
Belgorod, the capital of the eponymous region, occupies a strategic place in the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
A mere 40km (25 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Belgorod served as a base for Russia’s invasion since February 2022, making it a target for Ukrainian counterattacks. It has been repeatedly pummelled by artillery barrages and drone strikes that have increased in intensity, according to residents.
“I saw and heard the shelling of Belgorod from the very start of the war,” said Yuliya*, a 21-year-old journalist who requested anonymity.
“It was impossible not to hear it, it touched everyone in the city. Nowhere is safe. Even the city centre, where nothing [bad] ever happened before and it’s full of police, government officials, they should protect this area, right? Well, as it happens this isn’t true.”
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There is no doubt that Ukrainian civilians have suffered the most in the ongoing war, with tens of thousands killed and cities like Mariupol completely devastated.
According to the local Russian governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, more than 200 residents of the region have died as a result of hostilities since 2022. More than a thousand others have been wounded, including dozens of children, a number of whom have undergone amputations, he says.
The deadliest incident took place on December 30, 2023, when a barrage of rocket fire struck the city during New Year celebrations. Five children were among the 25 people killed.
“Unfortunately, this has become the reality of each person who lives here,” said political scientist Margarita Lisnichaya, a member of the Digoria Expert Club political think tank and a Belgorod native who says she supports President Vladimir Putin.
“On July 11, an explosive device was deliberately dropped into the courtyard of an apartment building,” she continued. “It was not military men sitting on the playground, but five boys, one of whom was only eight years old.”
Several children were reportedly injured in the attack.
Lisnichaya said that firefighting efforts are complicated by emergency response teams themselves being targeted for a repeat attack, and accused the Ukrainian armed forces of deliberately firing on civilians.
Ukraine denies targeting civilians.
A report cited by the Washington Post, purportedly leaked by Ukrainian intelligence, claims that in the 12 months preceding April 2024, Russian warplanes accidentally dropped 38 bombs on the Belgorod region themselves, resulting in dozens of deaths.
Pavel Luzin, an expert in Russian military matters at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Massachusetts, does not believe that civilian casualties are intentional.
“The strikes damage Russia’s logistics and economic activity, and they demoralise the Russian population which has been mostly pro-war,” he told Al Jazeera.
“They have weakened Russia’s military capabilities: Russia needs to spend its limited military resources to counteract Ukraine’s strikes in the region. I think Ukraine will inevitably increase the number and the depth of the strikes because it is necessary in order to defeat Russia and consequently to eliminate Russia’s threat to Ukraine and to Europe.”
A national cause
The situation in Belgorod has attracted nationwide attention.
A grocery delivery service named Samokat has launched a feature enabling users from anywhere in Russia to buy food, hygiene and baby products for Belgorod residents left homeless by the shelling.
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In May, Putin declared an operation to create a buffer zone in Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region to protect Belgorod from counterattacks.
The ensuing Russian offensive took advantage of Ukrainian manpower and ammunition shortages, though as of July, Russian forces have yet to fully secure the area and Ukrainian attacks continue.
Governor Gladkov announced that 14 border villages would be off-limits from late July, effectively creating a buffer zone on Russian territory.
“In the spring, Belgorod was buried in thousands of tulips, which people came from all over Russia to see,” added Lisnichaya.
“Today’s reality is constant danger. In crowded places, at bus stops, on beaches, in parks, and so on, concrete shelters are installed everywhere. There were days when the missile warning sirens sounded 10 times a day.”
About 2,500 villagers living along the firing line have been evacuated and rehoused elsewhere in the Belgorod region or western Russia, with some children sent to summer camps.
Many Belgorod residents themselves have also left, especially the parents of young children.
‘The shelling got so intense’
In May, the United States allowed Kyiv to use its weapons, including artillery and long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, to strike inside Russia.
The Ukrainian military says it has begun striking military targets, including arms depots and air and naval installations. The deployment of Kyiv’s new rocket systems has also reportedly forced the Russians to move their own S-300 missiles out of range of Kharkiv.
Intentionally or not, civilians have suffered in the crossfire.
In June, a missile attack on the Crimean peninsula, which has been under Russian control since 2014, with US-supplied ATACMS killed five people, including three children.
Footage showed terrified beachgoers running away in panic. Moscow blamed Washington for the attack, claiming American specialists coordinated the strike using spy satellite data.
During a trip to Washington in early July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged his counterpart, Joe Biden, to let his forces hit deeper into Russian territory, following the United Kingdom which greenlit Ukraine’s use of its Storm Shadow missiles earlier.
“Initially before the shelling got so intense, everything could be fixed in one or two days,” said Alexander.
“The shelling ended, municipal authorities arrived, cleared away everything and installed new windows. But now the consequences are more severe and they’re starting to get overwhelmed.”
For some shaken residents, living under fire has stirred calls for peace.
“I think people have started talking more about peace, for this all to be over,” Yuliya said. “Of course, people have different positions when it comes to the war, so we can’t say everyone turned into pacifists. They have started speaking more about peace, but everyone sees this on their own terms.”
“Those who remained, and this is a significant part of the region’s population, rallied,” added Lisnichaya.
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“People know that temporary difficulties will pass, together we can survive everything. This environment only hardened people, made them even stronger and more persistent. They do not need revenge – they believe in truth and the strength of the Russian soldier, and they know that he will win.”
And yet, life in the city goes on.
“During the summer we had truly wonderful weather, the park was packed, there were still a lot of international students left who were sitting by the riverside, and there was a piano,” remembered Alexander.
“The air raid siren began sounding, and a girl kept playing the piano as if nothing was happening. She was so entranced by the music she didn’t even care about the alarm.”
But not everyone is able to carry on as if life is normal.
“Yes, I’m scared it will continue, and the more it happens, the scarier it becomes,” Yuliya confessed.
“I think I might have symptoms of PTSD, because even when there’s no shelling and nobody’s hurt, it’s scary for me to leave the house. I fear for my life and my heart starts beating.”
‘We’re Homeless’ – Mariupol Residents Appeal to Putin Amid Broken Promises
Homeless residents of Russian-occupied Mariupol appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin for help. Residents lost their homes due to combat operations and have been waiting for promised new housing from the occupying authorities for the third year. Previously, residents of the city, which has been occupied by Russia since May 2022, recorded a New Year appeal to him.
The homeless Mariupol residents greeted Putin on the occasion of Epiphany and “appealed for justice on this day.” The Russian Telegram channel Astra published a video showing residents of several districts of Mariupol lined up with signs reading “бомжи” [homeless people].
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Previously, residents of the city, which has been occupied by Russia since May 2022, recorded a New Year appeal to him.
However, the occupying authorities reported that no more compensatory housing would be built.
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Local residents were informed about Law No. 141, under which it was intended to provide “ownerless” housing — that is, to house people in the still-standing homes of those who, for various reasons, did not return to their homes, according to a post by Astra.
“We believe this is a robbery law. Let’s call things by their names. It means taking from some and giving to others,” said the residents.
Now, instead of providing housing for the now homeless, the authorities are constructing homes on the sites as part of a profit-getting mortgage scheme, which “with our incomes, we cannot afford to pay.”
Ukraine war: Mariupol residents deny Russian stories about the city
‘Mariupol is diseased’: Residents deny Russia’s stories about occupied city. ‘There are a lot of lies floating around,’ says 66-year-old Olha Onyshko. ‘Water flows for a day or two, then it doesn’t come for three days,’ says another resident. ‘Teachers refuse to take these lessons or are fired. It’s like they are reprogramming the minds of our children,’ says John. ‘We had a beautiful city but now it’s diseased,’ says Andrii Kozhushyna, who studied in Mariupol for a year after it was occupied. ‘Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics struggle to get insulin on time, and it is crazy expensive,’ says James, who has escaped to Dnipro. ‘The water people are using doesn’t even meet the minimum drinking water standard,’ says Serhii Orlov, who calls himself Mari upol’s deputy mayor in exile. ‘It’s scary to drink it. The colour of the water is so yellow,’ says one resident.
7 hours ago Share Save Yogita Limaye BBC News, Kyiv Share Save
Getty Images Ukrainian residents say the way Russia wants the world to see Mariupol is very different from the reality
“What they’re showing on Russian TV are fairy tales for fools. Most of Mariupol still lies in ruins,” says John, a Ukrainian living in Russian-occupied Mariupol. We’ve changed his name as he fears reprisal from Russian authorities. “They are repairing the facades of the buildings on the main streets, where they bring cameras to shoot. But around the corner, there is rubble and emptiness. Many people still live in half-destroyed apartments with their walls barely standing,” he says. It’s been just over three years since Mariupol was taken by Russian forces after a brutal siege and indiscriminate bombardment – a key moment in the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands were killed, and the UN estimated 90% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed. In recent months, videos and reels from several pro-Russia influencers have been painting a picture of a glossy city where damaged structures have been repaired and where life has gone back to normal. But the BBC has spoken to more than half a dozen people – some still living in Mariupol, others who escaped after spending time under occupation – to piece together a real picture of what life is like in the city. “There are a lot of lies floating around,” says 66-year-old Olha Onyshko who escaped from Mariupol late last year and now lives in Ukraine’s Ternopil. “We had a beautiful city but now it’s diseased. I wouldn’t say they [Russian authorities] have repaired a lot of things. There’s a central square – only the buildings there have been reconstructed. And there are also empty spaces where buildings stood. They cleared the debris, but they didn’t even separate out the dead bodies, they were just loaded on to trucks with the rubble and carried out of the city,” she adds.
Getty Images After shattering Mariupol with its brutal siege, Russia says it is now rebuilding the city
Mariupol is also facing severe water shortages. “Water flows for a day or two, then it doesn’t come for three days. We keep buckets and cans of water at home. The colour of the water is so yellow that even after boiling it, it’s scary to drink it,” says James, another Mariupol resident whose name has been changed. Some have even said the water looks like “coca cola”. Serhii Orlov, who calls himself Mariupol’s deputy mayor in exile, says the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal which supplied water to the city was damaged during the fighting. “Only one reservoir was left supplying water to Mariupol. For the current population, that would’ve lasted for about a year and a half. Since occupation has lasted longer than that, it means there is no drinking water at all. The water people are using doesn’t even meet the minimum drinking water standard,” says Serhii. There are frequent power cuts, food is expensive, and medicines are scarce, residents tell us. “Basic medicines are not available. Diabetics struggle to get insulin on time, and it is crazy expensive,” says James. The BBC has reached out to Mariupol’s Russian administration for a response to the allegations about shortages and whether they had found an alternative source for water. We have not got a response so far. Despite the hardships the most difficult part of living in the city, residents say, is watching what Ukrainian children are being taught at school. Andrii Kozhushyna studied at a university in Mariupol for a year after it was occupied. Now he’s escaped to Dnipro. “They are teaching children false information and propaganda. For example, school textbooks state that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Odesa, Crimea and even Dnipropetrovsk regions are all already part of Russia,” says Andrii.
Andrii Kozhushyna studied in Mariupol under Russian occupation before escaping
He also described special lessons called “Conversations about Important Things” in which students are taught about how Russia liberated the Russian-speaking population of these regions from Nazis in 2022. “Teachers who refuse to take these lessons are intimidated or fired. It’s like they are reprogramming the minds of our children,” says John, a Mariupol resident. During World War Two Victory Day celebrations in May, images from Mariupol’s central square showed children and adults dressed up in military costumes participating in parades and performances – Soviet-era traditions that Ukraine had increasingly shunned are now being imposed in occupied territories. Mariupol was bathed in the colours of the Russian flag – red, blue and white. But some Ukrainians are waging a secret resistance against Russia, and in the dead of the night, they spray paint Ukrainian blue and yellow colours on walls, and also paste leaflets with messages like “Liberate Mariupol” and “Mariupol is Ukraine”. James and John are both members of resistance groups, as was Andrii when he lived in the city. “The messages are meant as moral support for our people, to let them know that the resistance is alive,” says James. Their main objective is collecting intelligence for the Ukrainian military. “I document information about Russian military movements. I analyse where they are transporting weapons, how many soldiers are entering and leaving the city, and what equipment is being repaired in our industrial areas. I take photos secretly, and keep them hidden until I can transmit them to Ukrainian intelligence through secure channels,” says James.
Getty Images Russia has changed the language, flags and signage in the occupied Ukrainian city