Ruined Mariupol now forever etched in Ukraine’s history
Ruined Mariupol now forever etched in Ukraine’s history
![Image](https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/c617d19/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1616x1080+0+0/resize/599x400!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.googleapis.com%2Fafs-prod%2Fmedia%2F84a9757448d14df6b7d2cded27e6ff76%2F1616.jpeg)
FILE - Fire erupts at an apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine, after a Russian tank opens fire on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A man walks with harbor cranes in the background, at the trade port in Mariupol, Ukraine, Feb. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)
FILE - The body of a girl killed during the shelling of a residential area lies on a medical cart at the city hospital of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Marina Yatsko, left, runs behind her boyfriend Fedor carrying her 18 month-old son Kirill who was fatally wounded in shelling, as they arrive at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Smoke rise after shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 4, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A man plays with a baby in a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A body lies covered by a tarp in the street in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022 as people cannot bury their dead because of the heavy shelling by Russian forces. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Russian’s army tanks move down a street on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Serhiy Kralya, 41, looks at the camera after surgery at a hospital in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine on March 11, 2022. Kralya was injured during shelling by Russian forces. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Smoke rise from an air defense base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A fire burns at an apartment building after it was hit by the shelling of a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)
FILE - A Ukrainian serviceman guards his position in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)
FILE - A woman reacts as she stands with her daughter as she waits for her husband to evacuate from a burning apartment in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - People look at a burning apartment building after shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Mariana Vishegirskaya stands outside a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)
FILE - This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a view of port facilities and buildings on fire in western Mariupol, Ukraine, April 9, 2022. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP, File)
FILE - Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. The woman and her baby later died. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Damage is seen on apartment buildings after shelling from fighting on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, in territory under control of the separatist government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, on March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Debris covers the inside of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre following a March 16, 2022, bombing in Mariupol, Ukraine, in an area now controlled by Russian forces, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Ambulance paramedics move an injured man on a stretcher, wounded by shelling in a residential area, at the maternity hospital converted into a medical ward and used as a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A building damaged during fighting stands in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Russian tanks roll along a street in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, April 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol during shelling, in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Local civilians walk past a tank destroyed during heavy fighting in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, April 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office, Azov Special Forces Regiment’s servicemen, injured during fighting against Russian forces, pose for a photographer inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, May 10, 2022. (Dmytro ‘Orest’ Kozatskyi/Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP, File)
FILE - Damaged and burned vehicles sit at a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, as smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal during heavy fighting, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Women walk past a destroyed apartment building in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Monday, May 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - A partially sunken Ukrainian warship sits in the water in an area of the Mariupol Sea Port in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released on May 4, 2022, by Donetsk People’s Republic Interior Ministry Press Service, Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine. (Donetsk People’s Republic Interior Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
FILE - A hospital window is cracked from shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
![Image](https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/c617d19/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1616x1080+0+0/resize/599x400!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.googleapis.com%2Fafs-prod%2Fmedia%2F84a9757448d14df6b7d2cded27e6ff76%2F1616.jpeg)
FILE - Fire erupts at an apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine, after a Russian tank opens fire on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A man walks with harbor cranes in the background, at the trade port in Mariupol, Ukraine, Feb. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)
FILE - The body of a girl killed during the shelling of a residential area lies on a medical cart at the city hospital of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Marina Yatsko, left, runs behind her boyfriend Fedor carrying her 18 month-old son Kirill who was fatally wounded in shelling, as they arrive at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Marina Yatsko, left, runs behind her boyfriend Fedor carrying her 18 month-old son Kirill who was fatally wounded in shelling, as they arrive at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Smoke rise after shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 4, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A man plays with a baby in a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A body lies covered by a tarp in the street in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022 as people cannot bury their dead because of the heavy shelling by Russian forces. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022 as people cannot bury their dead because of the heavy shelling by Russian forces. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Russian’s army tanks move down a street on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Serhiy Kralya, 41, looks at the camera after surgery at a hospital in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine on March 11, 2022. Kralya was injured during shelling by Russian forces. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Serhiy Kralya, 41, looks at the camera after surgery at a hospital in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine on March 11, 2022. Kralya was injured during shelling by Russian forces. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Smoke rise from an air defense base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A fire burns at an apartment building after it was hit by the shelling of a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)
FILE - A Ukrainian serviceman guards his position in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)
FILE - A woman reacts as she stands with her daughter as she waits for her husband to evacuate from a burning apartment in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - People look at a burning apartment building after shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Mariana Vishegirskaya stands outside a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)
FILE - This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a view of port facilities and buildings on fire in western Mariupol, Ukraine, April 9, 2022. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP, File)
FILE - This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a view of port facilities and buildings on fire in western Mariupol, Ukraine, April 9, 2022. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP, File)
FILE - Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. The woman and her baby later died. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. The woman and her baby later died. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Damage is seen on apartment buildings after shelling from fighting on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, in territory under control of the separatist government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, on March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Damage is seen on apartment buildings after shelling from fighting on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, in territory under control of the separatist government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, on March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Debris covers the inside of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre following a March 16, 2022, bombing in Mariupol, Ukraine, in an area now controlled by Russian forces, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Debris covers the inside of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre following a March 16, 2022, bombing in Mariupol, Ukraine, in an area now controlled by Russian forces, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Ambulance paramedics move an injured man on a stretcher, wounded by shelling in a residential area, at the maternity hospital converted into a medical ward and used as a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - Ambulance paramedics move an injured man on a stretcher, wounded by shelling in a residential area, at the maternity hospital converted into a medical ward and used as a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
FILE - A building damaged during fighting stands in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Russian tanks roll along a street in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, April 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol during shelling, in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol during shelling, in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Local civilians walk past a tank destroyed during heavy fighting in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, April 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office, Azov Special Forces Regiment’s servicemen, injured during fighting against Russian forces, pose for a photographer inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, May 10, 2022. (Dmytro ‘Orest’ Kozatskyi/Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office, Azov Special Forces Regiment’s servicemen, injured during fighting against Russian forces, pose for a photographer inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, May 10, 2022. (Dmytro ‘Orest’ Kozatskyi/Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP, File)
FILE - Damaged and burned vehicles sit at a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, as smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal during heavy fighting, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Damaged and burned vehicles sit at a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, as smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal during heavy fighting, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Women walk past a destroyed apartment building in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Monday, May 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - A partially sunken Ukrainian warship sits in the water in an area of the Mariupol Sea Port in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - A partially sunken Ukrainian warship sits in the water in an area of the Mariupol Sea Port in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Friday, April 29, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released on May 4, 2022, by Donetsk People’s Republic Interior Ministry Press Service, Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine. (Donetsk People’s Republic Interior Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released on May 4, 2022, by Donetsk People’s Republic Interior Ministry Press Service, Smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine. (Donetsk People’s Republic Interior Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
FILE - A hospital window is cracked from shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
First chaos and anarchy, then despair.
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.
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.
“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 Ukraine’s president. “The Azovstal defenders thwarted the enemy’s plans to seize eastern Ukraine, drew away enormous numbers of enemy forces, and changed the course of the war.”
Thermopylae is widely considered one of history’s most glorious defeats, in which 300 Spartans held off a much larger Persian force in 480 B.C. before finally succumbing. They were killed to a man, including their king.
Mariupol’s 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 city’s largest bomb shelter, with the word “CHILDREN” written in Russian on the pavement outside to deter an attack. Nearly 600 people were killed, inside and outside the theater, by some estimates.
Suddenly, no place felt safe, and its residents fled by the thousands.
But those at Azovstal, the steel mill in the port on the Sea of Azov, hunkered down in the labyrinth of tunnels and underground rooms. On some days, it was targeted by dozens of explosions. Little by little, the Azovstal civilians took advantage of humanitarian cease-fires to flee.
Finally, on Monday, more than 260 fighters — some of them seriously wounded and taken out on stretchers — emerged and turned themselves over to the Russian side. The two governments are negotiating their fate.
Other fighters — their precise numbers unknown — remain inside the ruins that sprawl over 11 square kilometers (4 square miles) in the otherwise now Russian-held city of shattered buildings and apartment blocks.
What Russia described as a mass surrender, the Ukrainians say was a mission fulfilled.
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. Seizing Mariupol also gives President Vladimir Putin an elusive military victory — won at the cost of the city itself, which lies in ruins as it has since the siege began in the beginning of March.
Said one Mariupol resident, who fled her home in April with little hope of return: “It is very difficult when you see that your city, which has been built before your eyes and restored becoming more and more beautiful, is dying.”