Residents of Russian-occupied Mariupol, who lost their homes due to combat operations and have been waiting for promised new housing from the occupying authorities for the third year, appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for help.
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.
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.”
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“At a new meeting with the deputies, we were told that there wouldn’t be enough space for us in the newly built homes. Instead of new buildings, they are preparing to distribute ownerless apartments, which will supposedly become municipal. These are the homes of Mariupol residents who left the city due to the fighting. We refuse to move into someone else’s apartments because it is impossible from both a moral and legal standpoint,” the people said.
After the destruction of Mariupol, the Russian authorities had announced plans to build homes for local residents as compensation.
Activists from the Ukrainian movement “Yellow Ribbon” in Mariupol also report that after the construction process was completed, it turned out that all the apartments had already been sold to Russians under a preferential mortgage scheme.
“The main buyers who meet the mortgage conditions are veterans of the ‘SVO’ [Special Military Operation], Russian security forces, and residents of depressed regions of the Russian Federation,” reads a post from the “Yellow Ribbon” movement.
The occupation of Mariupol in 2022 is one of the most tragic events of the war in Ukraine. The southeastern Ukrainian city suffered large-scale destruction and thousands of civilian casualties as a result of the prolonged siege and assault by Russian troops.
Mariupol found itself surrounded by Russian forces in the earliest days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Battle of Mariupol (also known as the Siege or Defense of Mariupol) began from the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and lasted from Feb. 24 to May 20, 2022 – a defense that lasted 86 days, 82 of which were spent completely surrounded by Russian forces.
The city was subjected to intensive shelling, leading to the destruction of residential buildings, infrastructure, and a humanitarian catastrophe. The siege led to a severe shortage of water, food, electricity, gas and medicines, as temperatures dropped below minus 10 degrees increasing the already high number of civilian deaths.
An estimated 22,000 people were killed during the encirclement and capture of the city.
After capturing the city, the Russians deported thousands of Mariupol residents to the depths of Russia and other occupied territories of Ukraine.
Starvation and the denial of amenities necessary for civilian life are war crimes, but this remains a relatively new area of international law, and no perpetrators have so far been prosecuted.
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