In September 2025, Google updated satellite images of temporarily occupied Mariupol. The photos, taken after the siege, show the massive demolition of damaged residential areas and historical buildings. On the site of the destroyed houses of Mariupol residents, the occupation authorities are now building new residential complexes and settling other people in them. The Suspilne investigative editorial office has analyzed the updated satellite data to confirm the scale of the destruction and to assess of the so-called restoration.
Destruction of Mariupol’s residential areas and cultural heritage
The city fell under Russian occupation after a three-month siege from February 24 to May 20, 2022, which ended with the withdrawal of Ukrainian defenders from the “Azovstal” steel plant. In the first months after the siege, the UN reported that up to 90% of the city’s residential buildings were damaged.
According to the data released by city mayor Vadym Boichenko in 2023, the occupiers damaged more than 2,200 apartment buildings, half of which were completely destroyed.
The city’s cultural heritage also suffered significant losses. There were 206 historical buildings in the city, and most of them were destroyed or damaged by Russian troops. According to Olha Demidko, a cultural expert at Mariupol State University, 53 architectural monuments in the city were destroyed during the full-scale invasion.
Drama Theater as a hidden war crime
Until 2022, the Mariupol Drama Theater was one of the most important cultural institutions of the city. Hundreds of spectators visited theater performances. During the siege in March 2022, the theater became a shelter for civilians, and a photo of the inscription “Children” on the square in front of the facade became viral around the world as a symbol of an attempt to save lives and the cruelty of the Russians. During the air strike on March 16, 2022, according to the estimates by the Mariupol City Council, about 300 people died in the drama theater. The Associated Press investigation stated approximately 600 deaths.
In December 2022, the occupation authorities initiated the demolition of the theater building. At the same time, the Russian city of St. Petersburg sent its specialists for reconstruction, and the city mayor, Alexander Beglov, called the restoration project “a symbol of Russian culture and the spiritual unity of the sister cities”. The occupiers promised to complete the restoration of the theater by August 2025. The announcements of the first performances have already been posted on its website: the vaudeville “The empress’s favorite” and the concert “One Love – one Russia”.
In March 2024, eight of the nine original sculptures that adorned the pediment of the theater building were destroyed during reconstruction. They were destroyed by the collapse of the cornice. Instead, the Russians installed nine copies made in Rostov-on-Don: some were recreated according to the archival photographs and others are positioned as “restored” from debris. The sculptures that reappeared on the pediment include a miner, a metallurgist, a collective farm worker, and nymphs with flutes. Some of the figures are more than three meters in height.
At the same time, the space around the theater has also changed. During the “renovation”, the area in front of the facade was paved with a solid surface, without restoring the pedestrian zone that existed until 2022. The territory is used as a parking lot.
“Taruta’s house” – a representative office of St. Petersburg?
The historic house of the late 19th century was built for Mariupol merchant Abram Tregubov. It is located near the drama theater in the city center. The building is better known to residents as “Taruta’s house”, because until 2022 it was the office of the “Azovintex” company, associated with businessman and former head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, Serhii Taruta.
The house was distinguished by its architectural luxury: the interiors were decorated with mahogany and marble, and the roof was covered with copper sheets. This made it one of the architectural symbols of Mariupol.
In June 2022, the St. Petersburg authorities announced the opening of their representative office in another part of the Tregubov complex. Since the summer of 2024, the Russian company “Modul-Center” has been carrying out the restoration. At the same time, photos and videos published by local media indicate a different nature of the “restoration”: wooden and marble elements have been removed from the premises, and the copper roof has been dismantled.
The Continental Hotel
The building was erected in 1897 as the first-class hotel “Continental”, which became a favorite vacation spot for Mariupol merchants and wealthy citizens. Over time, it turned into one of the oldest cultural centers in Mariupol, which existed for over 120 years. In 2019, the Center for Contemporary Art “The Continental Hotel” was opened in the historic building.
The building had already suffered destruction: during World War II, in 1943, it was destroyed, but rebuilt in 1946. During the full-scale invasion, the Continental again became a shelter for hundreds of people, and on April 20, 2022, it was destroyed.
The occupation administration claims to be “restoring” the building, but according to activists of the local initiative “Post-Industrial Mariupol”, the work is actually reduced to reconstruction: white plastic windows are being installed on the facade, and authentic architectural details are being destroyed. The photos of the renovated building were published in 2024.
From the Museum of Folk Life to the reminder of the Soviet era
The Museum of Folk Life in Mariupol was a branch of the local history museum and operated since 1989 as an ethnographic space that recreated the life of Ukrainians, Greeks, and other communities of the Azov region in the 18th – early 20th centuries. Its collection consisted of over five thousand exhibits, including unique items of cultural heritage of local communities. During the fighting in 2022, the building was damaged, and the exhibits were destroyed or looted.
In 2023-2024, there were reports of the occupation administration’s intention to use the premises to create the “Andrey Zhdanov Museum” as a branch of the Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad. The exhibition was planned to be built around the themes of the city’s defense and the figure of the Soviet party leader Zhdanov, a native of Mariupol.
The opening of the new institution in 2024 was announced by Boris Piotrovsky, the vice-governor of St. Petersburg for culture. In his post, he called the event “long-awaited” and timed to the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II. According to him, it has “strategic significance for preserving historical memory”.
In February 2025, Russian propagandists visited the reconstructed museum with a new exhibition. The first hall shows the office of the Communist party leader with portraits of Zhdanov. In another hall, visitors can see photos of the spring of 2022 with battles for the city, as well as such “exhibits” as chevrons of Russian units and so-called enemy artifacts – T-shirts with Ukrainian symbols and a fragment from a shell of an American HIMARS rocket launcher.
On September 18, 2025, an exhibition dedicated to the events of World War II was opened at the “Zhdanov Museum”. Russian organizers directly compared the “liberation of the city from the Nazis” in 1943 with the full-scale invasion, when the Russian army virtually destroyed Mariupol. At the event for schoolchildren, parallels were drawn between the two eras, noting the continuity of the Soviet and modern narratives.
What is being built on the site of the destroyed residential areas of Mariupol?
Earlier, the occupation authorities had plans to preserve and restore the historic center of Mariupol and restore facades and monuments. However, in September this year, the Russian occupation administration announced a project that involves demolishing of a significant part of the historic center and construction of new residential areas.
According to the “Donetsk People’s Republic construction ministry”, the plan covers about 59 hectares. Historic buildings are planned to be demolished and residents are to be relocated to new high-rise buildings.
The first statements about the “restoration” of Mariupol appeared in the summer of 2022. In July, the occupation administration approved a program with plans for the reconstruction of the city by 2035. In the autumn of the same year, on behalf of the Russian ministry of construction, the State institute of spatial planning of the Russian Federation prepared a master plan that provided for rapid population growth, large-scale demolition and reconstruction of residential areas. The latest large-scale plans for the reconstruction of Mariupol include a project by the Russian Planning institute published in January 2025. It provides for the creation of several new residential areas, townhouses, and high-rise buildings.
The “Nevsky” residential complex became one of the first implemented projects. The main contractor was the “Military construction company”, a subsidiary of the Russian ministry of defense.
The complex includes 6 nine-story and 12 five-story buildings with a total of over 1,000 apartments.
The projects in Mariupol were supervised by Russian deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov. According to Russian journalistic investigations, the estimates for the works were overstated by at least three times, and the company “Olimpsitistroy”, associated with Ivanov, has already received tens of billions of rubles for city contracts.
After the opening of the first part of the complex, the occupation authorities reported that almost all 500 apartments were settled. At the same time, local residents said that the houses remained half-empty.
Within a year after the construction, infrastructure problems began: in January 2024, buildings, walkways, and roads were damaged, the electricity substation was flooded, and in September 2025, a balcony collapsed.
At least four residential complexes are under active construction
On the western outskirts of Mariupol, next to the “Nevsky”, the “Mirapolis” residential quarter is being built. The project includes four buildings of 9 to 16 floors with commercial premises on the ground floors. Satellite images showed active work in 2024. The developer is the “SZ Mirastroy 2” company, registered in February 2024 in Mariupol. Its head and founder is Igor Vasilenko, who is also the owner of a chain of public catering facilities in the city of Saratov. The first part of “Mirapolis” is scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.
Another project is the residential complex “Residence” at 93 Budivelnykiv Avenue. It is being constructed by the Russian company “YugStroyInvest”. The complex is announced as high-class housing with buildings of 9 to 14 floors, closed courtyards, and internal infrastructure. The sale of apartments is ongoing through Russian online platforms using mortgage programs from Russian banks. The starting price of an apartment is from 74 thousand dollars.
The “Zhukov” residential complex is being built on Marshal Zhukov Avenue as a “comfort class” project. The developer is “RegionStroyKomplekt”, a newly established Russian company registered in Donetsk on August 23, 2023. In addition to this complex, it is also implementing another commercial project in the city – the “Olimpiysky” residential complex.
The “Azure Shores” residential complex is being built at 65 Kuprin Street on the site of a nine-story building destroyed in 2022. The developer is the Russian company “Sirius Build”, registered on May 16, 2024. In specialized catalogs, the complex is described as a 9-10-story building, and is scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.
In addition to residential areas, the occupation authorities plan to restore the “Azovstal” steel plant, a symbol of Mariupol’s defense. It was completely ruined by the Russian bombardment.
The project, which was announced in September 2025, envisages the development of a waterfront with shops and parks. Some of the old workshops are proposed to be converted into museums and exhibition spaces.
Similar ideas were previously voiced by the head of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” Denis Pushilin: back in June, he stated that they wanted to use the territory of the plant for tourist and recreational projects.
At the same time, satellite images do not show any actual construction work. Currently, only the dismantling of structures and the removal of scrap metal are underway in the territory.
After the siege and occupation, Mariupol became a place for mass construction, but most of the housing remains in ruins. According to Petro Andriushchenko, head of the Center for the Study of the Occupation, about 700 high-rise buildings are in the condition of “frozen repair”. The occupation authorities shift responsibility for completing this work to the residents themselves.
At the same time, the Russian administration claims that the program of providing compensation housing has been completed. According to it, 4,500 apartments were “given” to Mariupol residents. However, about 52,000 homes were destroyed during the siege. As stated by the Mariupol City Council, even according to the official data, only about 5% of the lost housing has been restored.
Anton Koltsov, the head of the Mariupol occupation authorities, explained in a comment to the Russian propaganda news agency TASS that for those still on the housing queue, a so-called municipal fund is being created. These are apartments that are recognized as “ownerless”. They are transferred to the ownership of the “municipality” through controlled courts, registered under Russian law, and given to new residents.
The first dozens of such apartments have already been “renovated” and handed over, Koltsov said. 5,500 apartments that are planned to be distributed in Mariupol are actually the homes of killed or expelled citizens.
This publication was funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.