Siege of Mariupol
Mariupol siege
Part of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine's eastern and southern offensives.
Mariupol, Mitropolitskaya 108, 20220323 005.jpg
Mariupol war damage, 16 March 2022
February–May 2022
(2 months, 3 weeks, 5 days)
Location
Mariupol, Ukraine.
Mariupol siege
47.098°N 37.61°E
Russian and DPR win[1][2].
Belligerents
Russia
DPR
Ukraine
Commandants
Mikhail Mizintsev[3][4] Volodymyr Baranyuk (POW)[5][6]
Denys Prokopenko (POW)[7][8].
Teams
Russia
58th CAA[9].
150th Rifle Division[10].
810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade[11].
12.
3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade[9].
RAF
Donetsk People's Militia
Mariupol-Khingan Naval Infantry
Somalia Battalion[13][12].
Sparta Battalion[9]
Vostok Battalion[14].
Ukraine
Mariupol:[15]
36th Separate Marine Brigade[15].
Azov Regiment[15][16][a]
12th Operational Brigade [ru; uk][15][a]
23rd Separate Protection of Public Order Brigade [ru; uk][17][a]
17.
National Police and State Border Guard[19][20].
Additional units:
10th Assault Brigade[21]
56th Motorized Brigade[22].
Georgian Legion[23]
TDF[24].
UVC[19].
Sheikh Mansur Battalion[b][25][26]
Strength
14,000[27] 3,500[27]–8,000[28][29]
Damages
Ukraine:
Russia:
4,200+ dead
3,903 taken
Ukraine:
906.
3,500+ taken[39].
UN:
1,348 civilians killed.
(estimated "thousands higher")[40][41][42]
Ukraine:
25,000+ civilians killed[43].
20,000–50,000 deported[44][45][46].
vte
2022 Russia invades Ukraine
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian and Donetsk People's Republic armies besieged Mariupol. The siege, part of the Russian eastern Ukraine offensive and southern Ukraine offensive, began on 24 February 2022 and ended on 20 May 2022 when Russia reported that the remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol had surrendered[47] after being ordered to stop fighting .[48]
The Russian-backed rebel Donetsk People's Republic controls Mariupol, Ukraine. By 22 April, the remaining Ukrainian soldiers had withdrawn to the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, a huge and extremely defended industrial complex.
The Red Cross called the situation "apocalyptic," and Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of engineering a major humanitarian crisis in the city.[52][53] Ukrainian officials reported that about 25,000 civilians had been killed[43] and that at least 95% of the city had been destroyed, mostly by Russian bombardments.[54] The UN confirmed 1,348 civilian deaths, but said the true death toll was likely thousands.
The siege concluded on 16 May 2022 after the remaining Azov Regiment members "evacuated" or "surrendered" from the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ukraine avoided using the word "surrender" .[60]
Some Western media considered the conflict a pyrrhic[61][62] or symbolic[63] triumph for Russia, while others labeled the siege's humanitarian consequences a "reputational disaster" for Russia[64]. However, Ukraine's loss of the city constituted a major defeat .[65]
Contents
1 Background
Mariupol advances
Preliminary shelling and city advance
Mariupol encircled
Urbanization
3.1.1 Russian invasion
3.2 Last strongholds
Azovstal steel plant resistance
Azovstal withdrawal
Azovstal siege
Civilian evacuation
4.4 Surrender
5 Aftermath
Cholera epidemic
5.1.1 Spread
6 Casualties
Casualties
Civilians killed
Humanitarianism
8 Russian war crimes
Evacuation checkpoints shot
8.2 Hospital bombing
Regional theater bombing
8.4 Mass residential shelling
Chemical warfare allegations
Publicity
Likewise
11 Notes
12 References
13.
Background
Battle of Mariupol (2014), Offensive on Mariupol (September 2014), and Shyrokyne standoff
War in Donbas (2014–2022) and January 2015 Mariupol rocket attack
Russian soldiers targeted crucial Mariupol. Mariupol was a major industrial hub, home to the Illich and Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, and the largest city on the Sea of Azov .[67]
Ukraine's economy depends on its western Sea of Azov port. Taking the city gave Russia full control over the Sea of Azov and a land route to Crimea .[69]
After the Revolution of Dignity, pro-Russian protests swept Mariupol. In early May, militiamen of the separatist and Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) took control of Mariupol and forced Ukrainian troops to abandon it during the first battle for Mariupol. [70] The following month, Ukrainian forces recaptured the city in an offensive. [71] In August, the DPR and Russian troops captured Novoazovsk, 45 km east of Mariupol near the Russo-Ukrainian border. In October, then-DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko threatened to reclaim Mariupol, which was then rocketed in January 2015. In February, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise attack into Shyrokyne, a village 11 km east of Mariupol, to expel separatist forces from the city limits and create a buffer zone away from DPR territory. Four months later, the separatists withdrew. The Minsk II ceasefire agreement was signed in 2015, freezing the conflict .[78]
The Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian volunteer militia with openly neo-Nazi and ultranationalist members, helped recapture and defend Mariupol. By November 2014, Azov was integrated into the National Guard of Ukraine and set Mariupol as their headquarters. [82] As one of Vladimir Putin's stated goals for the invasion was the "denazification" of Ukraine, Mariupol represented an important ide.
Mariupol's deputy mayor said 100,000 people departed before the siege .[85]
The Ukrainian Ground Elements, Ukrainian Naval Infantry, National Guard (mainly the Azov Regiment[16]), Territorial Defense Forces, and irregular forces defended the city before Russian forces took it .[24]
Mariupol advances
Russian takeover of Donetsk Oblast Mariupol
Initial shelling and city advance
Russian artillery struck the city on February 24, wounded 26.
Russian forces moved east from DPR territory toward Mariupol on 25 February. They were defeated by Ukrainian forces at Pavlopil. [88] Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko said 22 Russian tanks were destroyed in the skirmish.
The Russian Navy, using the Black Sea Fleet's capabilities, reportedly began an amphibious assault on the Sea of Azov coastline 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Mariupol on the evening of 25 February.[91] A US defense official said the Russians may have deployed thousands of marines from this beachhead.[92][93][94].
On 26 February, Russian artillery bombarded Mariupol, killing ten ethnic Greek citizens, six in Sartana and four in Buhas.
On 27 February, Boychenko said that a Russian tank column had advanced on Mariupol from the DPR, but Ukrainian forces repulsed it and captured six Russian soldiers. Later that day, Russian shelling killed a 6-year-old girl in Mariupol. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk Oblast, said that fighting in Mariupol had continued throughout the night .[100]
Despite being surrounded by Russian troops and shelled, the city remained under Ukrainian control on 28 February. [101][102] Most of the city's electricity, gas, and internet were cut during the evening. [103] Later, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Russian Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was killed by a Ukrainian sniper near Mariupol, but other sources said he was killed during the Kyiv offensive.
Mariupol encircled
Mariupol residential building shelled, 2 March 2022.
On 1 March, DPR leader Denis Pushilin declared that DPR forces had nearly entirely surrounded Volnovakha and would soon do the same to Mariupol. [106] Russian artillery afterwards bombed Mariupol, injuring over 21 people .[107]
The city was totally surrounded on 2 March,[49][108], and the siege increased. Russian bombardment killed a youngster and wounded two others who were playing soccer outside.[110][111] Boychenko reported significant casualties and a water outage. He claimed Russian military prevented residents from leaving.
Russian Mariupol bombing
3.03.2022.
Many structures smoke during major Russian airstrike in Mariupol,
3.03.2022.
Russian artillery shelled a densely populated Mariupol district for approximately 15 hours on 2 March. "At least hundreds of people are dead," deputy mayor Sergiy Orlov reported.
On the morning of 3 March, Russian troops shelled the city again. [116] Eduard Basurin, the DPR militia's spokesman, formally called on the besieged Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender or face "targeted strikes". [117] Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported that DPR forces had tightened the siege and captured three nearby settlements .[118]
On 4 March, Boychenko stated that the city's supplies were running out and called for a humanitarian evacuation corridor and Ukrainian military reinforcements.[119][120] He also stated that Russian BM-21 Grads were shelling the city's hospitals and that Mariupol residents no longer had heat, running water, or electricity.[121] Later that day, a temporary ceasefire was proposed for the Mariupol region to allow citizens to evacuate .[122]
On March 5, the Ukrainian government declared its intention to evacuate 200,000 Mariupol citizens. After three days of shelling, a ceasefire was announced from 11:00 to 16:00, and civilians began to evacuate from Mariupol along a humanitarian corridor to Zaporizhzhia. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described the situation in Mariupol as "extremely dire". Russian military shelled residents entering the evacuation path, forcing them to turn back .[126]
Ukrainian authorities later reported that Russian forces had violated the truce and continued to shell the city.[127] Russian officials accused Ukrainian forces of not allowing civilians to leave to Russia.[128] The DPR said that just 17 civilians had been evacuated from Mariupol .[129]
On 6 March, the Red Cross reported that a second attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol had failed. Anton Herashchenko, a Ukrainian official, said the second attempt at a humanitarian corridor for civilians in Mariupol ended with a Russian bombardment. The Red Cross reported "devastating scenes of human suffering" in Mariupol. Later in the morning, Inna Sovsun, a Ukrainian parliamentarian, said the fuel pipeline had been damaged .[133]
The ICRC Director of Operations noted on 7 March that humanitarian corridor agreements had just been reached in concept, needing routes, dates, and whether items could be carried in. The ICRC was supporting Russian-Ukrainian discussions after finding one of the corridor roads mined.
The Ukrainian government accused Russia of breaking the ceasefire again by hitting the evacuation corridor on March 8. .[136]
The Associated Press reported on 9 March that city employees were mass-burying Ukrainian citizens and soldiers in a cemetery. After Orlov reported that Russian soldiers had fired on construction workers and evacuation points, another truce failed. Russian shelling had interrupted burials and damaged a wall the day before. Later that day, the Mariupol City Council reported that a Russian bombing had devastated a maternity unit and children's hospital, killing three civilians and wounding at least 17. .[143]
urbanization
Russian invasion.
Mariupol streets, 12 March 2022
On 12 March, Ukraine's military reported that Russian forces had taken Mariupol's eastern suburbs. [144] Later, a humanitarian corridor allowed 82 ethnic Greeks to flee the city.
On 13 March, Boychenko stated that Russian forces had bombed the city at least 22 times in the previous 24 hours, with 100 bombs, and that the city's last food and water reserves were being depleted.[147][148] The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the National Guard of Ukraine had damaged several Russian armored vehicles with artillery strikes during the day.[149] İsmail Hacıoğlu, the head of the local Sultan Suleiman Mosque, stated that 8 Russian armored vehicles had been damaged .[150]
The first siege evacuation permitted 160 cars to leave the city at 13:00 local time on 14 March. After Russian forces secured the outskirts, 450 tonnes of humanitarian aid were transported to the city by the Russian Ministry of Defense. [151] Ukrainian military officials reportedly killed 150 Russian soldiers and destroyed 10 Russian vehicles .[152]
Mariupol refugees,
12.03.2022.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, said that Chechen fighters had briefly occupied Mariupol before returning the same day. Kadyrov also asserted that Adam Delimkhanov, a close ally and State Duma member, was the commander of Chechen forces in Mariupol.[153] The funeral for GRU Captain Alexey Glushchak was held in Tyumen, and it was discovered he died in Mariupol, perhaps early in the siege .[154]
On 15 March, 4,000 vehicles carrying 20,000 civilians left the city .[155]
Ukrainian government official Anton Herashchenko said that Russian Major General Oleg Mityaev, commander of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division, was killed when Russian forces tried to storm the city.[10][156] On 16 March, a Russian airstrike destroyed the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre, sheltering hundreds of civilians.[157] Donetsk Oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko later stated that Russian forces had also targeted the Neptune swimming pool .[158]
On 18 March, DPR forces said they had captured the Mariupol airport from Ukrainian forces.[159] Clashes later reached the city center, according to the mayor[160], and on 19 March, Russian and Ukrainian forces began fighting at the Azovstal steel plant.[161] On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Colonel Volodymyr Baranyuk and Major Denys Prokopenko, Mariupol's defense leaders, the Hero of Ukraine, the country's highest military award[162] .[164]
Mariupol Ukrainian troops destroy Russian tank.
Mariupol soldiers assault a Russian tank.
On 20 March, the city council of Mariupol claimed Russian forces had forcefully deported "several thousand" people to camps and remote cities in Russia over the past week.[45][165][166] Russia denied the accusation. The same day, a Russian bomb destroyed an art school building that had housed 400 people. Casualties were unknown .[167]
On 20 March, Russia's Ministry of Defence issued an ultimatum to surrender, lay down arms, and evacuate the city by 02:00 UTC the following day. [168] The Ukrainian government and Mariupol's mayor rejected the order. [169] By this point, one Ukrainian battalion commander described "bombs falling every 10 minutes" .[166]
Shelled Mariupol residential building, 23 March 2022
"Operation Air Corridor" began on 21 March when two Ukrainian Mil Mi-8 helicopters flew into Azovstal with a special forces team, crates of Stinger and Javelin missiles, and a satellite internet system. One helicopter was shot down on 7 April. Ukraine claimed 85 seriously wounded soldiers were evacuated as part of "Operation Air Corridor"[170] during seven missions to the Azovstal plant to resupply or deliver reinforcements using 16 Mi-8s, in pairs or fours, two of which were shot down, along with the rescue helicopter, according to Major General Kyrylo Budanov.[171] In contrast, Ukrainian pr .[175]
The next day, Russian forces reached central Mariupol and seized the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God. The local authorities accused Russians of demoralizing residents by yelling claims of Russian victories, including that Odessa had been conquered .[178]
On 27 March, Vadym Boychenko said that while Mariupol was still under Ukrainian control, Russian forces had entered deep into the city and that the city's population needed a "complete evacuation".[179] By this point, Ukrainian soldiers had run out of food and clean water, and an analyst believed they could only fight for a few days. The "Club 8bit" computer museum was destroyed by Ukrainian officers who refused to leave their injured and dead soldiers and civilians .[181]
On 28 March, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said "we are in the hands of the occupiers today" in a televised interview,[182] and a Mariupol mayor's office spokesman said "nearly 5,000 people" had been killed in the city since the siege began.[183][184][185] The Ukrainian government estimated that "from 20,000 to 30,000" Mariupol residents had been forcibly sent[44] to camps in Russia[45] under Russian military control.[44] During the day, Russian forces s .[187]
Russian soldiers captured the SBU building in central Mariupol on 2 April,[188] ending the war. On 4 April, one Ukrainian battalion surrendered,[189] and Russian officials said two days later they captured 267 Ukrainian marines from the 503rd Battalion of the Ukrainian Naval Forces.[190] The lines between the Ukrainian 36th Separate Marine Brigade and the Azov Regiment were broken. On 7 April, the DPR announced central Mariupol had been cleared of Ukrainian forces .[191]
Meanwhile, Russian troops started an advance from the southwest on 1 April, leaving the Ukrainian military in partial control of the area around the port in the southwest of Mariupol by 7 April.[191] On 4 April, a Russian Navy missile hit a Malta-based Dominica-flagged cargo ship, causing it to catch fire.[192] On 7 April, Russian forces captured a bridge leading to the Azovstal steel plant.[193] The following day, Russian troops seized the southe .[194]
On 10 April, Russian forces grabbed the fishing port, dividing Ukrainian troops in the port from those in the Azovstal steel factory into two pockets and possibly a third around the Illich steel plant to the north. The next day, DPR forces claimed to have conquered 80% of Mariupol. Since they were running out of ammunition, local Ukrainian forces and analysts at the Institute for the Study of War predicted Mariupol to fall within a week.[196][197]
Last holdouts
Russian media said on 11 April that 160 36th Separate Marine Brigade Ukrainian personnel were taken with their equipment .[198]
Baranyuk led the 36th Separate Marine Brigade in an effort to escape the Russian encirclement at the Illich steel mill on April 11–12. After being spotted, they broke into smaller groups, with some of them managing to link up with fighters of the Azov Regiment at the Azovstal plant to the southeast.[201][202] A large number of Ukrainian servicemen were killed or captured during the breakout.[189] Baranyuk's fate was initially unknown.[200] Later, the DPR claimed that they had identified Baranyuk's body after their special forces blocked the Ukrainian breakout.[199] However, on November 19, the DPR denied this. The breakout attempt captured them .[5]
On 11 April, a battalion of tankers from the 17th Tank Brigade, assisting the 36th Brigade, broke through the siege instead of following Baranyuk's plan. After breaking out, the unit's leader, Liutenant Colonel Oleg Grudzevych, received a Hero of Ukraine medal for bringing his men to safety .[18]
On 12 April, British Marine Aiden Aslin reported that his unit was going to surrender because they had run out of ammunition, food, and other supplies. [203] Later that evening, Russia reported that 1,026 Marines of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade had surrendered at the Illich steel plant, including 162 officers and 400 wounded fighters. [205][206][201][204] Later, Russia said it captured an additional 134 Ukrainian servicemen. According to Prokopenko, Baranyuk's breakout effort was made without warning to other troops and the path of attack was not previously decided upon,[189] while Samoilenko termed Baranyuk a "coward" who tried to flee the city "taking with him people, tanks and ammunition" .[212]
Ukrainian military analyst Oleg Zhdanov said that by this point, the Russian 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, originally sent from Feodosia, had been "destroyed twice" during the siege [213].
Azovstal steelworks resistance
Azovstal's withdrawal
Azovstal in 2014.
A Ukrainian military commander requested troops to "break the siege" of Mariupol on April 15. He also said that "the situation is critical and the fighting is fierce" but that sending reinforcements and breaking the siege "can be done and it must be done as soon as possible".[214] On the same day, Ukrainian Defence Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk reported Russia started using Tu-22M3 long-range bombers to strike targets in Mariupol.[215] The Azovstal iron and steel works, the heart of one of the remaining pockets of resistance, was well-defended and descr Russian forces captured the Ukrainian National Guard's 12th Operational Brigade post in western Mariupol during the day [216]. .[217]
On 16 April, DPR troops seized a police station near Mariupol's beach[217] and Russian forces seized the port's Vessel Traffic Control Center[210]. On 20 April, a Ukrainian Marine officer claimed Marine and Azov forces from the Azovstal plant evacuated 500 Ukrainian Border Guard and National Police members from the port because they were running out of ammunition. According to the officer, Ukrainian forces from the Azovstal pocket made an armoured breakthrough to the port and provided covering fire as the 500 besieged soldiers retreated to the plant.[20] Russia then claimed that all urban areas of the city had been cleared and that Ukrainian forces only remained at the steel plant.[51] However, fighting was reported to be continuing near Flotskaya street in the western Primorsky District .[210]
Ukrainian army refused a Russian surrender ultimatum and fought to the end, destroying 95% of the city by 18 April. Russia vowed to "eliminate" those who persisted.[218] A military analyst believed that 500 to 800 Ukrainian forces were still in the city,[219] whereas Russian officials reported that 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers and 400 foreign volunteers remained in the Azovstal plant .[218]
Azovstal Siege
On 20 April, Russian and DPR forces made limited advances on the outskirts of the Azovstal plant. [220] On 21 April, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian soldiers not to charge the steel complex but to blockade it until the Ukrainian forces there ran out of supplies. He reported that "The completion of combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success," while a Ukrainian official rebutted Putin's comments, saying that Russia's choice of implementing a blockade over storming the steel plant meant that Russia had admitted their inability to physically capture Mariupol.[221][222] General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of the UK's Joint Forces Command, said that the battle for the plant was no longer "really relevent." Despite the siege, Russian forces reached within 20 meters (66 ft) of several Ukrainian positions, according to him .[224]
On 22 April, Russian forces cleared the western Primorsky District, encircling the remaining Ukrainian forces in the Azovstal Steel Plant. [50] On 23 April, Ukraine reported airstrikes and an apparent ground assault on the steel works. "The enemy is trying to strangle the final resistance of the defenders of Mariupol in the Azovstal area," an advisor to the Ukrainian president said. [225] However, this could not be independently confirmed. [226] Ukrainian security chief Oleksiy Danilov claimed that a helicopter had resupplied Azovstal at night. [227] On the same day, it was reported that Russia was redeploying 12 battalions from Mariupol to other fronts in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine reported a military field hospital was bombed, increasing the wounded from 170 to over 600.[229][230]
Civilian evacuation
ICRC buses prepared to evacuate Zaporizhzhia on 8 May 2022.
On 30 April, the UN and ICRC began evacuations through a humanitarian corridor after Secretary-General António Guterres traveled to Moscow the week before to broker a deal. Russian media reported 25 civilians had left the Azovstal steel plant. At least two wives of Azov Regiment servicemen appealed for a simultaneous evacuation of the nearly 2,000 forces left behind after the civilian evacuation, citing fears about Russian POW treatment and a lack of medical and food supplies .[235]
About 100 civilians were evacuated on 2 May, according to the US Department of Defense, and Russian combat forces were reported to be withdrawing out of Mariupol, potentially to bolster their positions elsewhere in the Donbas, where Russia was conducting a large-scale operation. "Largely the efforts around Mariupol for the Russians are now in the realm of airstrikes," said one US DOD official. [238] On 3 May, Russian forces in Mariupol resumed their attacks on Azovstal, launching "difficult bloody battles" against the steel plant. [240] The following day, it was reported that the Russians had broken into the plant. [241] Ukrainian politician Davyd Arakhamia said: "Attempts to storm the plant continue for days." These corridors lasted from 8am to 6pm. [243] Ukrainian military blamed Russian success on an electrician who handed Russian forces information on the underground tunnel network: “Yesterday, the Russians started storming these tunnels, utilizing the information they obtained from the betrayer.”[244]
On 5 May, The Telegraph reported that Russia had intensified its bombing of the steel factory bunkers by using thermobaric bombs to increase the devastation of deployed firepower against the remaining Ukrainian soldiers who had lost all contact with the Kyiv government. In his last communications, Zelenskyy had authorized the besieged steel factory commander to surrender as necessary under the pressure of increased Russian attacks .[245]
The UN evacuated 500 persons on 6 May. The Azov Regiment lost one fighter and wounded six while evacuating civilians .[246]
The Ukrainian government evacuated all women, children, and elderly from Azovstal steel mill on 7 May.
Surrender
Azovstal bombing, May 2022
"That a higher power find a method to figure out our rescue," said 36th Separate Marine Brigade commander Serhiy Volynskyi on 8 May. "It feels like I've landed in a horrific reality show in which us troops battle for our lives and the whole world watches this entertaining episode. Pain, agony, starvation, sorrow, tears, worries, death. It's all true," Zelenskyy said .[250]
Mariupol had a Donetsk People's Republic victory parade on 9 May. The Republic's head, Denis Pushilin, attended the celebration. [251] Meanwhile, Russian military representatives and Ukrainian commanders from Azovstal, including Major Prokopenko, met near Mariupol in Russian armoured vehicles. The meeting settled the Ukrainians' capitulation terms .[252]
On 10 May, Ukrainian officials stated that over 1,000 servicemen, hundreds of them injured, were trapped within Azovstal steelworks.
The Institute for the Study of War reported that Russian forces had likely captured the M14 highway the following day despite the lack of a ground operation on 12 May[255] .[256]
Azovstal convicts
On 16 May, Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of a DPR brigade near Azovstal, stated that a group of nine soldiers had come out of the plant to negotiate under a white flag. [257] The Ukrainian General Staff announced that the Mariupol garrison had "fulfilled its combat mission" and that "evacuation" from the steel plant had begun. "In order to save lives, the entire Mariupol garrison is implementing the approved decision of the Supreme Military Command and hopes for the support of the Ukrainian people," Azov Regiment commander Denys Prokopenko wrote on social media. "Wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal plant were taken to the DPR-K." "Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, Ukraine gained critically needed time to build reserves and regroup forces and get help from allies. And they completed all their obligations. But it is impossible to reopen Azovstal by military means."[260]
Russia press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed that the fighters who surrendered would be treated "in accordance with international standards," while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address that "the work of bringing the boys home continues, and this work needs delicacy – and time". At the request of both parties, the ICRC identified the surrendered troops as prisoners of war and collected information to contact their relatives. Some prominent Russian legislators called on the government to prohibit prisoner exchanges for Azov Regiment members .[262]
Russian artillery and aircraft pounded Azovstal's defenders again on 18 May. According to Russian sources, the last defenders surrendered on 20 May, including Lieutenant Colonel Prokopenko, Major Volynskyi, and Captain Svyatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Regiment.[264][265] The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that 2,439 prisoners had been taken at Azovstal between 16 and 20 May and that the steel plant was now undamaged.
Aftermath
On 18 May, Denis Pushilin said the Donetsk People's Republic will demolish Azovstal and turn Mariupol into a resort city .[2]
Russian Telegram bloggers released a video of Russian military striking the surviving Ukrainian holdouts at Azovstal on 22 May.[269] DPR head Denis Pushilin said that several Ukrainian holdouts had been found and captured in the Azovstal plant region .[270]
After mine removal, Russia reopened Mariupol to commercial vessels on May 26. .[271]
On 29 July 2022, 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Mariupol were murdered and 75 wounded in an explosion at Olenivka prison.[272] Both Ukrainian and Russian authorities accused each other of the attack.[273][274] As of 30 July, there was no independent confirmation of what happened .[275]
Cholera outbreak
On 30 April 2022, the Ukrainian parliament declared that the city's living conditions were "medieval" and that most of its sanitary and health infrastructure was destroyed, placing its residents at risk of disease .[276]
In late April, the Mariupol City Council advised 100,000 citizens to flee "deadly epidemics" .[277]
The Rospotrebnadzor published a 40-paragraph decision on April 28, 2022, urging extra drinking and waste water measures, especially in Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Rostov, and Voronezh Oblasts, where Ukrainian refugees had settled, and cholera education by June 1. The Rostov Oblast authorities announced cholera testing for Ukrainian refugees in Russia .[277]
On 17 May 2022, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge stated, "We are concerned about the potential cholera outbreak in occupied areas where water and sanitation infrastructure is damaged or destroyed," and WHO Ukraine incident Manager Dorit Nitzan reported "swamps" of waste water on Mariupol's streets and cases of cholera .[278]
On 6 June 2022, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Healthcare Ihor Kuzin warned against a cholera outbreak in the city, claiming all preconditions were present. Ukrainian task forces investigated soil and drinking water in Mariupol, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and Sumy Oblasts. Russian occupational authorities quarantined the city after his statement .[279]
On 11 June, Mayor Boychenko declared a cholera outbreak in the city due to failing sanitation facilities and decomposing bodies .[280]
Spread
Russian government authorities in oblasts bordering Ukraine have set up cholera labs, warning that cholera could spread beyond Mariupol. Epidemiologist Liudmyla Mukharska warned that bowel diseases, dysentery, salmonellosis, and hepatitis A and E might spread throughout the Donbas. Other epidemiologists warned the cholera outbreak would expand to Russia due to rotations of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine and the deportation of Ukrainians to Russian filtration camps .[281]
Casualties
Casualties
Ukraine claimed that 6,000 Russian soldiers were killed during the siege, while Russia claimed that more than 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died prior to the Azovstal plant siege in mid-April [51] and that 152 Ukrainian soldiers were found in a non-functioning refrigerated truck in Azovstal after the siege. Underneath them were explosives. By 12 June, Russia delivered 220 Ukrainian soldiers who had died fighting in the Azovstal steelworks to Ukraine, while "just as many bodies" remained in Mariupol. Another 145 bodies of Mariupol victims were returned, a third of which were Azov warriors.
Ukraine reported the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade of Russia's Black Sea Fleet had 158 killed, 500 wounded, and 70 missing by mid-April, while the 126th Coastal Defence Brigade, a unit of roughly 2,000 soldiers, suffered 75% fatalities .[290]
Russia reported 3,903 Ukrainian soldiers captured during the siege, whereas Ukraine reported 3,500 soldiers and an extra battalion. [39] On June 8, over 1,000 DPR prisoners of war were delivered to Russia .[291]
Victims
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine casualties
On 9 March, Mariupol's deputy mayor Serhiy Orlov stated that at least 1,170 civilians had been killed in the city since Russia's invasion began and were being buried in mass graves. On 11 March, the city council stated that 1,582 civilians had been killed during the siege, increasing that number on 13 March to 2,187. .[296]
However, local government adviser Pyotr Andryushchenko believed that 20,000 civilians were murdered, disputing the council's count. The New York Times claimed that city officials were struggling to count civilian deaths and disappearances during the siege. Telegram videos revealed Cheryomushki villagers burying corpses in a courtyard and using a post office as a makeshift morgue .[297]
On 16 March, the Associated Press (AP) claimed that many of the dead were "children and mothers," contradicting Russian government claims that civilians had not been targeted. It also stated that physicians in Mariupol were treating "10 injured civilians for every injured Ukrainian military."
On 11 April, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko stated that over 10,000 civilians had died in the Russian siege of Mariupol.[299] On 12 April, city officials reported that up to 20,000 civilians had been killed.[299] On the same day, the Mayor reported that about 21,000 civilians had been killed.[300] An updated Ukrainian death toll the following month put the number of civilians killed at at least 22,000. .[301]
By mid-June, the UN reported 1,348 civilian deaths, but "possibly thousands higher".
On August 29, Mariupol Television President, volunteer, and social activist Mykola Osychenko told Dnipro TV that insider information indicates 87,000 deaths in Mariupol morgues. 26,750 victims are in mass graves, while many more are in apartment building and private house yards or under the rubble .[302]
Ukraine reported 25,000 Mariupol civilian deaths in early November .[43]
The battle devastated Ukraine's Greek community in Mariupol. Russian army nearly devastated Greek-populated Sartana and Volnovakha near Mariupol .[303]
Humanitarianism
Apartment building shelled during 24/7 assaults, 3 March 2022.
Petro Andryushchenko, Mariupol's mayor's advisor, said on 6 March that people were "drinking from puddles in the streets" due to days of Russian shelling and bombing. According to US officials, residents were unable to flee the city due to continuous ceasefire violations, strikes on agreed-upon evacuation corridors, and direct attacks on civilians trying to evacuate .[305]
On 14 March, another ICRC spokesman said that "hundreds of thousands" of people in the city were "facing extreme or total shortages of basic necessities like food, water and medicine." [306] On 15 March, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk accused Russian forces of taking around 400 civilians hostage after capturing a city hospital. [307] Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of firing at an evacuation convoy and injuring five civilians .[309]
On 21 March, CNN reported that an official in Mariupol said that people are afraid to leave their underground shelters even to get food and water due to the constant bombing and shelling, so they were trying to drink less and eat less. On 22 March, CNN reported that the Russian Army had confiscated 11 buses that were headed into the city to evacuate citizens.[310] Fox News later reported that at least some of the buses were filled with humanitarian aid. On 23 March, Ukrainian President Zelenskeyy announced that 100,000 civilians were still unable to leave Mariupol and were trapped in "inhumane conditions" without food, water, or medicine.[312][310] CNN also reported that all attempts to bring empty buses into Mariupol to evacuate civilians had failed.
On April 1, 50 UN vans failed to evacuate hundreds of civilian survivors from Mariupol .[313]
The ICRC assisted evacuate 10,000 civilians from Mariupol and Sumy .[314]
Russian war crimes
See also: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine war crimes.
The siege saw Russian war crimes. Media publications called the crimes the worst of the 21st century .[315]
On 25 March, Ukrainian authorities accused Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev of ordering the bombings of the Mariupol Children's and Maternity Hospital and the city theatre, where 1,200 civilians were sheltering.[4] Mizintsev was dubbed the "Butcher of Mariupol" by western and Ukrainian sources and sanctioned by the UK. Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, called Mizintsev's assertions "manipulation"[317].
Evacuation checkpoints shot
Michael Carpenter, U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, called two Mariupol occurrences on 5 and 6 March war crimes on 7 March. On both dates, Russian forces bombed agreed-upon evacuation lanes while civilians were using them, he said .[305]
Hospital bombing
Mariupol hospital airstrike and 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine women
Mariupol's children's and maternity hospital bombing, 9 March 2022, effects
After an airstrike destroyed a maternity ward and children's hospital on 9 March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that the attack was a "atrocity" and posted a video of the building's ruins. Three people were killed, including a young girl, and at least 16 were injured. Authorities said many more patients and hospital staff were buried under the rubble .[320]
According to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the Azov Regiment occupied the former maternity facility, thus Russia destroyed it.
Later that day, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the hospital attack as "information terrorism," while Russian Ministry of Defence spokesman Igor Konashenkov labeled it staged .[323]
Then, on the afternoon of 10 March, the Russian Embassy to the UK tweeted that two injured pregnant women seen being evacuated after the attack were actually actresses wearing "realistic make-up," that the maternity ward was occupied by the Azov Regiment, and that no women or children had been present since the facility was "non-operational". [324] Twitter later removed the tweet for violating their disinformation rules. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman,
Russia's accusation trended online in Russia, particularly on Telegram, which has hundreds of thousands of followers [325]. Twitter removed the embassy's messages .[325]
Russia accused the pregnant woman on a stretcher of being an actress. She was taken to another hospital and died on March 13 after her kid was stillborn. After losing her baby, she cried, "Kill me now," according to medical staff. Thirty minutes later, she died .[327]
Investigative reporters debunked Russian claims that the videos were faked and that the bombed hospital was a military post.[328] On 22 March, Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov was charged under Russia's "false information" law after he published information about the Russian shelling of a maternity hospital in Mariupol.[329] Under a new law passed on 4 March, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison .[330]
Theatre bombing
Mariupol theatre airstrike
16 March saw the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre attacked.
On 16 March, an airstrike destroyed the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre, where at least hundreds of civilians were sheltering. [308] The Mariupol city council accused Russia of targeting the theatre, where Human Rights Watch estimated 500 civilians were sheltering. [332] Former Donetsk Oblast governor Serhiy Taruta estimated 1,300 civilians were sheltering .[333]
According to Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, Russia "could not have not known this was a civilian shelter" after a Maxar Technologies satellite image from 14 March showed the Russian word for "children" written in large white letters on the pavement in front and back of the theatre. The Russian Defense Ministry denied bombing the structure and accused the Azov Regiment of blowing it up, while the Verkhovna Rada and municipal council said it was difficult to start rescue operations at the theatre due to the bombardment .[337]
Taruta said the basement bomb shelter where individuals were staying survived the attack. As of 18 March, Ukrainian officials reported that more than 130 residents had been evacuated from the basement, with no fatalities. The city council reported no deaths but one critically wounded individual .[338]
The airstrike killed 600 civilians, according to the Associated Press [339].
Mass residential shelling
Mariupol war damage, 12 March 2022
Russian artillery shelled a densely populated Mariupol area for approximately 15 hours on 2 March, deputy mayor Sergiy Orlov reported. He added a left-bank residential zone was "almost totally demolished" .[114]
Maxar Technologies satellite photographs of Mariupol on March 9 indicated "severe damage" to high-rise flats, residential dwellings, grocery stores, and other civilian infrastructure. The Mariupol council called the city's devastation "enormous" [340]. Reuters reporter Pavel Klimov reported from Mariupol that "all around are the burned shells" of tower block houses, with almost 30% beyond repair .[342]
BBC News reported on 16 March that nearly constant Russian attacks had turned residential neighbourhoods into "a wasteland" and that drone footage showed "a vast extent of damage, with fire and smoke billowing out of apartment blocks and blackened streets in ruins." A city resident told the BBC that "in the left bank area, there's no residential building intact, it's all burned to the ground."
On 18 March, Lieutenant General Jim Hockenhull, Chief of Defence Intelligence for the United Kingdom (UK), described "continued targeting of civilians in Mariupol".[345] Ukrainian authorities stated that about 90% of buildings in Mariupole were now damaged or destroyed.[309] Sky News from the UK described videos as showing "civilian areas left unrecognisable by the bombing." Sky News also quoted the Red Cross as describing "Apocalyptic destruction I .[346]
On 28 March, Mariupol's government reported that 90% of its hospitals had been damaged and that 23 schools and 28 kindergartens had been destroyed by Russian bombardment .[348]
Russian bombing has damaged at least 95% of Mariupol by 18 April, according to Ukrainian sources .[54]
On 12 April, city officials recorded 20,000 civilian deaths, while the mayor reported 21,000 deaths .[300]
Chemical weapons allegations
On 11 April 2022, Eduard Basurin, a spokesperson for the Donetsk People's Republic, called for Russia to use "chemical forces" to "smoke out the moles"—Ukrainian forces in the Azovstal. Later that day, the Azov Regiment accused Russian forces of using "a poisonous substance of unknown origin" in Mariupol, causing respiratory problems. A Pentagon spokeswoman said the accusations were unconfirmed but raised concerns about Russia's deployment of chemical weapons.[350][351][352] Ukraine later announced it was investigating. Three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded .[353]
Experts said it was too early to tell what happened, but UK and Ukrainian officials suspected the use of white phosphorus, which is not a chemical weapon under international law .[351]
Publicity
From late February to 11 March, AP staffer Mstyslav Chernov and freelancer Evgeniy Maloletka were in Mariupol. They were among the few journalists and, according to the AP, the only international journalists in Mariupol during that time, and their photographs were extensively used by Western media to cover the siege and situation in the city. [355] Chernov said they were evacuated from the city by Ukrainian soldiers on 11 March while taking photos in a hospital. He stated no journalists remained in Mariupol after they escaped unharmed .[356]
Starlink provided Azovstal steel factory testimonies .[357]
Russian state media portrayed the invasion as a liberation effort and accused Ukrainian troops of targeting civilian targets in Mariupol.
"Entire settlements reduced to rubble, attacks on civilian targets and the bombing of refugee exit routes were all part of Moscow's brutal Syria campaign," the Guardian wrote after the Russian attack on the Mariupol maternity ward [360]. The Washington Post, under the headline "Russia's Ukraine war builds on tactics it used in Syria, experts say," described the civilian population's effects as "dwindling food supplies .[361]