<\/p>\n
In 2022, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin presented Vladimir Putin with a plan to rebuild Mariupol, after Moscow\u2019s armies leveled much of the city early in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Khusnullin envisioned Mariupol\u2019s complete restoration within three years. Despite claims from Russian officials that they\u2019ve met this target, many residents still haven\u2019t found new homes. In a new investigation<\/a>, journalists at Bumaga Media analyzed statements by the Russian government, examined available data on the city\u2019s reconstruction, and spoke with locals. Meduza summarizes the outlet\u2019s main finding: it would take the Russian authorities another 18 years to finish rebuilding the city at the current pace of construction.<\/p>\n \u201cIn reality, thousands of residents have been stripped of the right to return to apartments in [Mariupol\u2019s] better neighborhoods, and new residential complexes have been built for sale on the sites of their former homes. [\u2026] Locals are being offered \u2018unclaimed\u2019 properties \u2014 apartments belonging to others who never registered them with Russia\u2019s property records,\u201d journalists write.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bumaga obtained information showing that tens of thousands of Mariupol residents likely lost their homes in the war. The city\u2019s pre-invasion population was 450,000, while the U.N., Ukrainian officials, and even some Russian authorities put Mariupol\u2019s December 2024 population at about 375,000 \u2014 a decrease of 75,000 people, or 17 percent. At the same time, given officials\u2019 claim<\/a> that Russian nationals have flocked to the city since Moscow annexed it in 2022, Bumaga journalists calculate that Mariupol will need to rebuild at least to its former housing capacity.<\/p>\n Ahead of his own schedule, Khusnullin declared<\/a> that \u201calmost all\u201d apartment buildings in Mariupol had been restored by February 2024. However, Bumaga found that the city\u2019s occupation authorities still hold meetings with residents who have yet to be resettled.<\/p>\n Journalists also identified a category of buildings that have been slated for demolition rather than restoration. According to Russia\u2019s local construction officials, Mariupol has 527<\/a> such buildings; the Ukrainian authorities\u00a0estimate<\/a>\u00a0that 1,100 buildings have been slated for demolition. As of February 2025, Bumaga found that only 79 of these structures have been rebuilt, with 70<\/a> intended to house displaced locals and nine earmarked for mortgage buyers. At this pace, journalists calculate that all Mariupol residents won\u2019t be fully rehoused for another 18 years \u2014 not until 2043.<\/p>\n In its investigation, Bumaga emphasizes that its projections are only a rough estimate, given that newer residential buildings tend to be taller and can accommodate more apartment units. Still, many of these new homes are intended for sale rather than for resettling locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rebound in Mariupol\u2019s private housing stock has been similarly sluggish, with only about 5 percent of these damaged residences rebuilt annually. If this work doesn\u2019t speed up, it won\u2019t be finished until 2042, Bumaga writes, noting that its calculations don\u2019t even factor in needed repairs and new construction for Mariupol\u2019s critical infrastructure, such as facilities to handle the city\u2019s supply of water, gas, and electricity. It\u2019s likely that these projects will only extend the timeline for a full recovery, journalists warn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2022, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin presented Vladimir Putin with a plan to rebuild Mariupol, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":{"0":"post-65185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia","9":"tag-7888","10":"tag-7883","11":"tag-7886","12":"tag-7875","13":"tag-7868","14":"tag-7880","15":"tag-7870","16":"tag-7881","17":"tag-7887","18":"tag-7876","19":"tag-7864","20":"tag-7871","21":"tag-7865","22":"tag-7873","23":"tag-7874","24":"tag-7866","25":"tag-7869","26":"tag-7867","27":"tag-7885","28":"tag-7879","29":"tag-7872","30":"tag-7884","31":"tag-7882","32":"tag-7878","33":"tag-7877"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114431620804056753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}