Mariupol Illichivets Stadium 12

Mariupol (, ; uk, Маріу́поль ; russian: Мариу́поль) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the country and the second-largest city in Donetsk Oblast, with an estimated population of 425,681 people in January 2022. However, Mariupol has been militarily controlled by Russia since May 2022, and the city's residents are now estimated to number around 100,000, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Historically, the city of Mariupol was a centre for trade and manufacturing, and played a key role in the development of higher education and many businesses while also serving as a coastal resort on the Black Sea. From 1948 to 1989, the city was known as Zhdanov, named after Andrei Zhdanov, a high-ranking official of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; the name was part of a larger effort to rename cities after high-ranking political figures in the Soviet Union. Mariupol was founded on the site of a former encampment for Cossacks, known as Kalmius, and was granted city rights within the Russian Empire in 1778. It played a key role in the Soviet-era industrialization of Ukraine; it was a centre for grain trade, metallurgy, and heavy engineering—including the Illich Iron and Steel Works and the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works.

Beginning on 24 February 2022, the three-month-long Russian siege of Mariupol largely destroyed the city, for which it was given the title "Hero City of Ukraine" by the Ukrainian government. On 16 May 2022, all Ukrainian troops who remained in Mariupol surrendered at Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, as the Russian military secured complete control over the city by 20 May 2022.

History

Pre-settlement

Neolithic burial grounds excavated on the shore of the Sea of Azov date from the end of the third millennium BCE. Over 120 skeletons were discovered, with stone and bone instruments, beads, shell-work, and animal teeth.

Mariupol was founded on the site of a former Cossack encampment known as Kalmius, and granted city rights in 1778. Mariupol played a key role in the industrialization of Ukraine, and was a centre for the grain trade, metallurgy, and heavy engineering, including the Illich Steel & Iron Works and Azovstal.

From the 12th through the 16th century, the area around Mariupol was largely devastated and depopulated by intense conflict between the Crimean Tatars, the Nogay Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Muscovy. By the middle of the 15th century much of the region north of the Black and Azov Seas was annexed by the Crimean Khanate and became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. East of the Dnieper River a desolate steppe stretched to the Sea of Azov, where lack of water made early settlement precarious.

Being near the Muravsky Trail exposed it to frequent Crimean–Nogai slave raids and plundering by Tatar tribes, preventing permanent settlement and keeping it sparsely populated, or even entirely uninhabited, under Tatar rule. Hence it was known as the Wild Fields or the 'Deserted Plains' (''Campi Deserti'' in Latin).

In this region of Eurasian steppes, the Cossacks emerged as a distinct people in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Below the Dnieper Rapids were the Zaporozhian Cossacks, freebooters organized into small, loosely-knit, and highly mobile groups who were both livestock farmers and nomads. The Cossacks would regularly penetrate the steppe to fish and hunt, as well as for migratory farming and to herd livestock. Their independence from governmental and landowner authority attracted to join them many peasants and serfs fleeing the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Grand Duchy of Moscow.

The Treaty of Constantinople in 1700 further isolated the region, as it stipulated that there should be no settlements or fortifications on the coast of the Azov Sea to the mouth of the Mius River. In 1709, in response to a Cossack alliance with Sweden against Russia, Tsar Peter the Great ordered the liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich, and their complete and permanent expulsion from the area. In 1733, Russia was preparing for a new military campaign against the Ottoman Empire and therefore allowed the return of the Zaporozhians, although the territory officially belonged to Turkey.N. D. Polons’ka –Vasylenko, "The Settlement of Southern Ukraine (1750–1775)," The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., Inc., 1955, p. 16.

Under the Agreement of Lubny of 1734, the Zaporozhians regained all their former lands. In return, they were forced to serve in the Russian army during wartime. They were also permitted to build a new stockade on the Dnieper River called New Sich, though the terms prohibited them from erecting fortifications. These terms allowed only for living quarters, in Ukrainian called ''kureni''.

Upon their return, the Zaporozhian population in these lands was extremely sparse, and in an effort to establish a measure of control, they introduced a structure of districts or palankas. The nearest district to modern Mariupol was the Kalmius District, but its border did not extend to the mouth of the Kalmius River, although this area had been part of its migratory territory. After 1736, the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the Don Cossacks (whose capital was at nearby Novoazovsk issuing a decree in 1746 marking the Kalmius River as the divide between the two Cossack hosts.

Sometime after 1738, the treaties of Belgrade and Niš in 1739, in addition to the Russian-Turkish convention of 1741, as well as the following likely concurrent land survey of 1743–1746 (resulting in the demarcation decree of 1746), the Zaporzhian Cossacks established a military outpost on "the high promontory on the right bank of the Kalmius river."Section "Kalmius and the Kalmiusskaya Palanka"
, referencing A. A. Skalkowski, no citation. Though the details of its construction and history are obscure, excavations have revealed Cossack artifacts, including others, within the enclosure being approximately 120 square meters in the shape of a square. The outpost was likely a modest structure in that it lay within the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the erection of fortifications on the Sea of Azov was prohibited by the Treaty of Niš.

The last Tatar raid, launched in 1769, covered a vast area, overrunning the New Russian Province with a huge army in severe wintertime weather. The raid destroyed the Kalmius fortifications and burned all the Cossack winter lodgings. In 1770, the Russian government, during the war with Turkey, moved its border with the Crimean Khanate southwest by more than two hundred kilometres. This action initiated the Dnieper fortified line (running from today's Zaporizhya to Novopetrovka), thereby laying claim to the region, including the site of future Mariupol, from the Ottoman Empire.

Following the victory of the Russian forces, the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca eliminated the endemic threat from Crimea. In 1775, Zaporizhzhia was incorporated into the New Russian Governorate, and part of the land claimed behind the Dnieper fortified line including modern Mariupol was incorporated in the newly re-established Azov Governorate.

Settlement

After the Russo-Turkish War from 1768 to 1774, the governor of the Azov Governorate, Vasily A. Chertkov, reported to Grigory Potemkin on 23 February 1776 that ruins of ancient ''domakhas'' (homes) had been found in the area, and in 1778 he planned the new town of ''Pavlovsk''. However, on 29 September 1779, the city of Marianοpol ( gr, Μαριανόπολη) in Kalmius County was founded on the site. For the Russian authorities the city was named after the Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna; its de facto title was named after the Greek settlement of Mariampol, a suburb of Bakhchisarai in Crimea. The name was derived from the Hodegetria icon of the Holy Theotokos and the Virgin Mary. Subsequently, in 1780, Russian authorities forcibly relocated many Orthodox Greeks from Crimea to the Mariupol area.

In 1782, Mariupol was an administrative seat of its county in the Azov Governorate of the Russian Empire, with 2,948 inhabitants. In the early 19th century, a customs house, a church-parish school, a port authority building, a county religious school, and two privately founded girls' schools were built. By the 1850s the population had grown to 4,600 and the city had 120 shops and 15 wine cellars. In 1869, Consuls and Vice-Consuls of Prussia, Sweden, Norway, Austria-Hungary, the Roman States, Italy, and France established their representative offices in Mariupol.

After the construction of the railway line from Yuzovka to Mariupol in 1882, much of the wheat grown in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate and coal from the Donets Basin were exported via the port of Mariupol (the second largest in the South Russian Empire after Odessa), which served as a key funding source for opening a hospital, public library, electric power station and urban water supply system.

Mariupol remained a local trading centre until 1898, when the Belgian subsidiary ''SA Providence Russe'' opened a steelworks in Sartana, a village near Mariupol (now the Ilyich Steel & Iron Works). The company incurred heavy losses and by 1902 was bankrupt, owing 6 million francs to the Providence company and needing to be re-financed by the Banque de l'Union Parisienne.
The mills brought cultural diversity to Mariupol as immigrants, mostly peasants from all over the empire, moved to the city looking for a job and a better life. The number of workers increased to 5,400.

In 1914, the population of Mariupol reached 58,000. However, the period from 1917 onwards saw a continuous decline in population and industry due to the February Revolution and the Civil War. In 1933, a new steelworks (''Azovstal'') was built along the Kalmius River.

World War II

During World War II, the city was under German military occupation from 8 October 1941, to 10 September 1943. During this time, the city suffered tremendous material damage and great loss of life. The Germans shot approximately 10,000 inhabitants, sent nearly 50,000 young men and girls as forced laborers to Germany, deported 36,000 prisoners to concentration camps, most of whom did not survive.

In October 1941, the Jewish population was nearly extinguished by two operations specifically designed to kill them.

The execution of the Jews of Mariupol was carried out by Sonderkommando 10A, which was part of Einsatzgruppe D. The leader was Obersturmbannführer Heinz Seetzen 5 . The Germans shot about 10,000 Mariupol Jews from October 20, 1941 to October 21, 1941 in Berdyansk .

The Mariupol Memorial to the Murdered Jews also called " Menorah memorial" is a cultural property of a historical place The work consists of a seven-pointed menorah, a Star of David and two commemorative steles with inscriptions:

* "Victims of the fascist genocide were shot here – the Jews of Mariupol. October 1941. May their souls be connected with the living" („Здесь расстреляны жертвы фашистского геноцида – евреи Мариуполя. Октябрь 1941 года. Пусть их души будут связаны с живыми“)
* “I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name preferable to sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name” (Isaiah 56:5)

Mariupol was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on 10 September 1943.

Image:Пам'ятник жертвам фашизму і військовополоненим.JPG, Monument to the victims of the Second World War.
Image:Пам'ятник жертам голодомору і політичних репресій, м. Маріуполь.jpg , Monument to the victims of the Holodomor.
file:Мемориальный комплекс "Менора".jpg, The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Mariupol also called " Menorah memorial (Mariupol)"

File:Гетто, Маріуполь.jpg, Ghetto of Mariupol
File:Мацева9.jpg, Jewish Cemetery, Mariupol
File:Мариуполь. Синагога на улице Георгиевской.jpg, Choral Synagogue
File:Мариуполь, синагога (2).png

In 1948, Mariupol was renamed "Zhdanov", after Soviet politician Andrei Zhdanov, who had been born there in 1896. The name of the city reverted to "Mariupol" in 1989.

Russo-Ukrainian War

2014 fighting

Following the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, pro-Russian and anti-Revolution protests erupted across eastern Ukraine, including Mariupol. This unrest later evolved into the Russo-Ukrainian War between the Ukrainian government and Russia together with the separatist forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). In May of that year, a battle between the two sides broke out in Mariupol after it briefly came under DPR control. The city was eventually recaptured by government forces, and, in June 2015, Mariupol was proclaimed the temporary administrative centre of Donetsk Oblast until the city of Donetsk could be recaptured.

The city remained peaceful until the end of August 2014, when DRP separatists together with a detachment of the Russian Armed Forces captured Novoazovsk, located east of Mariupol near the Russo-Ukrainian border. This was followed an offensive by pro-Russian forces from the east came within of Mariupol, before an overnight counter-offensive pushed the separatists away from the city. In September, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire, halting that offensive. Despite this ceasefire, minor skirmishes continued on the outskirts of Mariupol in the following months. To protect the city, government forces established three defense lines on its outskirts, supported by heavy artillery and large numbers of army and national guard troops.

2015 rocket attack

A rocket attack on Mariupol was launched on 24 January 2015 by the Donetsk People's Republic.
According to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, the Grad rockets hit populated areas of Mariupol killing at least 30 people. Using intercepted phone communication raw data, a Bellingcat investigative team concluded that the shelling was instructed, directed and supervised by Russian military commanders in active service with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Bellingcat identified nine Russian officers, including one general, two colonels, and three lieutenant colonels, involved directly with the military operation.
As a response, in February Ukrainian forces launched an assault on the village of Shyrokyne, where the rockets were fired from, located around east of Mariupol. The Shyrokyne battle became a standoff, as Ukrainian and DPR forces battled for control of Shyrokyne and neighbouring villages until the separatists withdrew in July.

2018 Crimean Bridge incidents

Following the May 2018 opening of the Crimean Bridge, cargo ships bound for Mariupol found themselves subject to inspections by Russian authorities resulting in delays of up to a week. Therefore port workers were put on a four-day week schedule.Why Ukraine-Russia sea clash is fraught with risk
BBC News (27 November 2018) On 26 October 2018, ''The Globe and Mail'' reported that the bridge had reduced Ukrainian shipping from its Azov Sea ports (including Mariupol) by about 25%.

In late September 2018, two Ukrainian Navy vessels departed from the Black Sea port of Odessa, passed under the Crimean Bridge and arrived in Mariupol. But on 25 November 2018, three Ukrainian Navy vessels which attempted to do the same were seized by the Russian FSB security service during the 2018 Kerch Strait incident.

2022 Russian siege

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mariupol was a strategic target for Russian and Russian proxy forces. The city was under siege from 25 February until 17 May 2022. Mariupol was awarded the title of Hero City of Ukraine on 6 March 2022, by Decree of the President of Ukraine.

On 9 March, Russian planes dropped several bombs on Mariupol maternity hospital number 3, destroying the building. Seventeen people were injured and three died as a result of the airstrike.

On 13 March, the Red Cross warned that the siege had become a humanitarian crisis. A month into the conflict, Ukrainian authorities said that about 90% of buildings in Mariupol were damaged or destroyed. An aid worker from the Red Cross described the conditions there as "apocalyptic", with concerns for the humanitarian situation being severe damage to infrastructure, access to sanitation, and food shortages.

On 16 March, the Russian attacking forces dropped a bomb on the Mariupol Drama Theater. The central part of the building was destroyed. At the time of the air strike, civilians and refugees were hiding in the theater's basement. The Neptune Basin building was also destroyed by an air strike.

On 19 March 2022, a Ukrainian police officer in Mariupol made a video in which he said, "Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth." The video was authenticated by the Associated Press. Russian forces in Mariupol have been accused of human rights violations and war crimes. However, propaganda in the state-controlled media in Russia presented the invasion as a liberation mission and blamed Ukrainian troops for attacks on civilian targets in Mariupol.

By 18 March, Mariupol was completely encircled and fighting reached the city centre, hampering civilian evacuation efforts. On 20 March, an art school in the city, which was sheltering around 400 people, was destroyed by a Russian bombing. The same day, as Russian forces continued their siege of the city, the Russian government demanded a full surrender, which several Ukrainian government officials refused. On 24 March, Russian forces entered central Mariupol as part of the second phase of the invasion. The city administration alleged the Russians were trying to demoralize residents by publicly shouting claims of Russian victories, including statements that Odesa had been captured. On 27 March, Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Olha Stefanishyna, stated that " ariupol's inhabitantsdon't have access to water, to any food supplies, to anything. More than 85 percent of the whole town is destroyed," and that Russia's objectives have "nothing to do with humanity". In a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron on 29 March, Putin stated that bombardment of Mariupol would only end when Ukrainian troops fully surrender Mariupol given the advanced state of devastation in the nearly captured city.

On 11 April 2022, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Mariupol had been "completely destroyed".

By late April, Russian and separatist troops had pushed deep into most of the city, separating the last Ukrainian troops, with the few pockets of Ukrainian troops retreating into the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. The steel mill contains a complex of bunkers and tunnels which could even resist a nuclear bombing. On 21 April 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the city of Mariupol was under Russian control, while the Azovstal plant remained under the control of Ukrainian forces. Putin stated that his troops would blockade, not storm, the Azovstal plant. On 25 April, the Russians ordered the remaining 1,000 Ukrainian troops in the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works to surrender, but Ukrainian commander Denys Prokopenko refused. On 4 May 2022, Russian forces entered the Azovstal Steel Plant for the first time rather than its outskirts, which they had been contesting for several weeks. On 16 May 2022, its last troops from the Azovstal Steel Plant surrendered and the city fell to Russia and Russia-backed Donetsk People's Republic.

Geography and ecology

Geography

Mariupol is located in the south of the Donetsk Oblast, on the coast of Sea of Azov and at the mouth of Kalmius River. It is located in an area of the Azov Lowland that is an extension of the Ukrainian Black Sea Lowland. To the east of Mariupol is the Khomutov Steppe, which is also part of the Azov Lowland, located on the border with Russia.

The city occupies an area of , or including suburbs administered by the city council. The downtown area is , while the area of parks and gardens is .

The city is mainly built on land that is made of solonetzic (sodium enriched) chernozem, with a significant amount of underground subsoil water that frequently leads to landslides.

Climate

Mariupol has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification ''Dfa'') with warm summers and cold winters. The average annual precipitation is . Agroclimatic conditions allow the cultivation of warmth-loving agricultural crops with long vegetative periods (sunflower, melons, grapes, etc.). However water resources in the region are insufficient, so ponds and water basins are used for the needs of the population and industry.

In winter, the wind blows mainly from the east, and in summer the north.

Ecology

Mariupol has historically led Ukraine in the volume of emissions of harmful substances by industrial enterprises. The city's leading enterprises have begun to address these ecological problems, so, over the last 15 years, industrial emissions have fallen to nearly a half of their previous levels.

Due to stable production by the majority of the large industrial enterprises, the city constantly experiences environmental problems. At the end of the 1970s, Zhdanov (Mariupol) ranked third in the USSR (after Novokuznetsk and Magnitogorsk) in the quantity of industrial emissions. In 1989, including all enterprises, the city had 5,215 sources of atmospheric pollution producing 752,900 tons of harmful substances a year (about 98% from metallurgical enterprises and Mariupol Coke-Chemical Plant "Markokhim"). Even given some easing of the maximum permissible concentrations (maximum concentration limit) in the state's industrial activity in the mid-1990s, many pollution limits were still exceeded:
* 1.3 times for ammonia
* 1.3 times for phenol
* 2.0 times for formaldehyde
In the residential areas adjoining the industrial giants, concentrations of benzapiren reach 6–9 times the maximum concentration limits; fluoric hydrogen, ammonia, and formaldehyde reach 2–3 to 5 times the maximum concentration limits; dust and oxides of carbon, and hydrogen sulphide are 6–8 times the maximum concentration limits; and dioxides of nitrogen are 2–3 times the maximum concentration limits. The maximum concentration limit has been exceed on phenol by 17x, and on benzapiren by 13-14x.

Ill-considered locations of the Azovstal and Markokhim to economize on transport charges, during both construction in the 1930s and subsequent operations, have led to extensive wind-borne emissions into the central areas of Mariupol. Wind intensity and geographical "flatness" offer relief from the accumulation of long-standing pollutants, somewhat easing the problem.

The nearby Sea of Azov is in distress. The fish catch in the area has been reduced by orders of magnitude over the last 30–40 years.

The environmental protection activity of the leading industrial enterprises in Mariupol costs millions of hrivnas, but it appears to have little effect on the city's long-standing environmental problems.

Governance

City administration and local politics

The Mariupol electorate traditionally supports left wing (socialist and communist) and pro-Russian political parties. At the turn of the 21st century the Party of Regions numerically prevailed in the City Council followed by the Socialist Party of Ukraine.

In the presidential elections of 2004, 91.1% of the city voted for Viktor Yanukovych and 5.93% for Viktor Yuschenko. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, the city voted for the Party of Regions with 39.72% of the votes, the Socialist Party of Ukraine with 20.38%, the Natalia Vitrenko Block with 9.53%, and the Communist Party of Ukraine with 3.29%.

In the 2014 parliamentary elections the Opposition Bloc won more than 50% of the votes. The seats of the city's two electoral districts were won by Serhiy Matviyenkov and Serhiy Taruta.Data on vote counting at percincts within single-mandate districts Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014
, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
Candidates and winners for the seat of the constituencies in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Vibori2014.rbc.ua
, RBK Ukraine

The mayor (chairman of executive committee of the city council) of the city is Vadym Boychenko. In the October local elections he was re-elected with 64.57% of the votes as a candidate of the Vadym Boychenko Bloc. In these mayoral elections Volodymyr Klymenko of Opposition Platform — For Life received 25.84% of the vote, self-nominated candidate Lydia Mugli received 4.72%, the candidate from For the Future Yulia Bashkirova received 1.68% and the nominee from Our Land Mykhailo Klyuyev received 0,99% of the votes. Voter turnout in the election was 27%.Mariupol. The triumphant mayor is forced to look for allies
The Ukrainian Week (5 November 2020)

Administrative division

Mariupol is divided into four neighborhoods or "raions".
* Kalmiuskyi District ( until June 2016 named Illichivsk District after Vladimir ''Ilyich'' LeninOn Amending Resolution of the Central Election Commission on April 28, 2012 № 82
Verkhovna Rada (3 June 2016)) is the northern part of the city, the largest and most industrialized neighborhood in the city. It is commonly known as the Zavod ("Factory") of Ilyich.
* Livoberezhnyi District ( until June 2016 named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze) is the eastern part of the city, on the left bank of the Kalmius River. Its name means the "Left Bank".
* Prymorskyi District is the southern area of the city, on the coast of the Azov Sea. The everyday name of the central part this neighbourhood is simply "the Port".
*Tsentralnyi District is the central city raion. Its everyday name is simply "the Centre" or "the City". Formerly it was known as Zhovtnevyi District (October District) commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

The Kalmius River separates the Livoberezhnyi District from the remaining three districts. The population is mostly concentrated in the Tsentralnyi and Prymorskyi Districts. The Kalmiuskyi District houses the large Illich Steel and Iron Works and the Azovmash manufacturing plant. The Livoberezhnyi (Left Bank) is home to the Azovstal metallurgic combine and the Koksokhim (Coke and Chemical) factory. The settlements of Staryi Krym and Sartana are located in close proximity to the city limits of Mariupol (see map).

Coat of arms

The modern coat of arms of Mariupol was confirmed in 1989. It is described in heraldic terms as: ''Per fess wavy argent and azure, on an anchor or, accompanied by the figure 1778 of the last''. The gold anchor has a ring on top. The number 1778 indicates the year of the city's founding. The argent represents steel; the azure, the sea; the anchor, the port; and the ring, metallurgy.

City holidays

Holidays exclusive to Mariupol include:

* Day of liberation of the city from fascist aggressors (on 10 September)
* Day of the city (the Sunday after the day of liberation of Mariupol in September)
* Day of the metallurgist – a professional holiday for many citizens
* Day of the machine engineer
* Day of the seaman and other professional holidays

Demographics

As of 1 December 2014, the city's population was 477,992. Over the last century the population has grown nearly twelvefold. The city is populated by Ukrainians, Russians, Pontic Greeks (including Caucasus Greeks and Tatar- and Turkish-speaking but Greek Orthodox Christian Urums), Belarusians, Armenians, Jews, etc. The main language is Russian.

The average annual population decline of the city from 2010 to 2014 is 0.6%. The death rate is 15.5%.

Ethnic structure

The city is largely and traditionally Russian-speaking, while ethnically the population is divided about evenly between Ukrainians and Russians. There is also a significant ethnic Greek minority in the city.

In 2002, ethnic Ukrainians made up the largest percentage (48.7%) but less than half of the population; the second greatest ethnicity was Russian (44.4%). A June–July 2017 survey indicated that Ukrainians had grown to 59% of Mariupol's population and the Russian share had dropped to 33%.

The city is home to the largest population of Pontic Greeks in Ukraine ("Greeks of Priazovye") at 21,900, with 31,400 more in the six nearby rural areas, totaling about 70% of the Pontic Greek population of the area and 60% for the country.

Language structure

The city is predominantly Russian speaking. From 60% to 80% of Ukrainian-language inhabitants communicate in Surzhyk, due to the large influence of Russian culture.

Most Greek-speaking villages in the region speak a dialect called Rumeíka, a branch of Pontic Greek. About 17 villages speak this language today. Modern scholars distinguish five subdialects of Rumeíka according to their similarity to standard Modern Greek. This was derived from the dialect of the original Pontic settlers from the Crimea. Although Rumeíka is often described as a Pontic dialect, the situation is more nuanced. Arguments can be brought both for Rumeíka's similarity to Pontic Greek and to the Northern Greek dialects. In the view of Maxim Kisilier, while the Rumeíka dialect shares some features with both the Pontic Greek and the Northern Greek dialects, it is better considered on its own terms as a separate Greek dialect, or even a group of dialects.

The village of Anadol speaks Pontic proper, being settled from the Pontos in the 19th century. After the October Revolution of 1917, a Rumaiic revival occurred in the region. The Soviet administration established a Greek-Rumaiic theater, several magazines and a newspaper, and a number of Rumaiic language schools. The best Rumaiic poet Georgi Kostoprav created a Rumaiic poetic language for his work. This process was reversed in 1937 as Kostoprav and many other Rumaiics and Urums were killed as part of Joseph Stalin's national policies.. The work is based on field research in the Greek villages in the Mariupol region. The expeditions were organised by St. Petersburg State University and carried out from 2001–2004.

A new attempt to preserve a sense of ethnic Rumaiic identity started in the mid-1980s. The Ukrainian scholar Andriy Biletsky created a new Slavonic alphabet for Greek speakers. Though a number of writers and poets make use of this alphabet, the population of the region rarely uses it. The Rumaiic language is declining rapidly, most endangered by the standard Modern Greek which is taught in schools and the local university. The latest investigations by Alexandra Gromova demonstrate that there is still hope that elements of the Rumaiic population will continue to use the dialect.

Along with those speaking Rumeíka, there were and are a number of Tatar-speaking Orthodox villages, the so-called Urums, which is the Tatar term for Romaios or Rumei. This subdivision had already occurred in Crimea before the settlement of the Azov Sea steppe region by Pontic Greeks which began following the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia in 1461. It occurred on a larger scale after the end of the Russo-Turkish War in 1779, as part of the Russian policy to populate and develop the region while depriving the Crimea of an economically active part of its population. Though Greek- and Tatar-speaking settlers lived separately, the language of the Urums was the lingua franca of the region for a long time, being called the language of the bazaar.

There are also a number of settlements of other ethnic communities, including Germans, Bulgarians, and Albanians (though the meanings of all such terms in this context is open to dispute).

Native languages of the population as of the All-Russian Empire Census in 1897:

Religious communities

* 11 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchy.
* 3 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchy.
* 52 various religious communities.

The city is adorned by the St. Nicholas Cathedral (in the Tsentralnyi borough) and other churches of the city, namely:
* St. Nicholas (Primorsky borough)
* St. Michael (Livoberezhnyi borough)
* St. Preobrazheniye ("Holy Transfiguration") (Primorsky borough)
* St. Ilya (Ilyichevsky borough)
* Uspensky ("Assumption") (Livoberezhnyi borough)
* St. Vladimir (Livoberezhnyi borough)
* St. Amvrosy Optinsky (Illyichevsky borough, Volonterobvka)
* St. Varlampy (Illyichevsky borough, Mirny)
* St. George (Illyichevsky borough, Sartana)
* Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Illyichevsky borough, Talakovka)
* St. Boris & Gleb (Prymorsky borough, Moryakov)
* St. Crimeajewel

Many churches were destroyed in the 1930s during the Soviet era by the Bolshevik government as part of the Atheist Five-Year Plan:'' Дмитрий Янатьев: Мариинская церковь.''
old-mariupol.com.ua.'' Николай РУДЕНКО: Судьба святыни мариупольских греков. ''
old-mariupol.com.ua.Сергей БУРОВ: ''Для постройки какого храма юный Архип принимал кирпичи? ''
old-mariupol.com.ua''ЧЕТВЕРТЫЙ ДЕНЬ ЭКСКУРСИИ – 25 МАРТА ''
old-mariupol.com.ua'' 5 безповоротно загублених храмів Маріуполя.''
mistomariupol.com.ua.'' Эдуард ВОРОБЬЕВ: Храм – от рождения до распятия.''
old-mariupol.com.ua.
* Church of the Assumption of Mary
* Church of Mary Magdalene
* Tsarevich Chapel in Mariupol
* Roman Catholic church also known as "the church of the Italians" was built in 1860. The Italians in Mariupol exported grain and imported citrus fruits and spices. In Soviet times the church was destroyed in 1936.
* Saints Constantine and Helen Church
* Cathedral of St. Charalambos
* Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection

New buildings:
* Cathedral of Saint Nicholas
* Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel
* Cathedral of Saint George , built in 2005
* Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection

Маріуполь, Успения Пресвятой Богородицы (Успенская, Мариинская), (1).jpg, Church of the Assumption of Mary

Мариуполь. Александровский сквер.jpg, Church of Mary Magdalene

Мариуполь, Церква Марії Магдалини, Капличка (1).png, Tsarevich Chapel in Mariupol

Мариуполь. Католическая церковь.jpg, Roman Catholic church

Маріуполь, Слободка, церква Св. Костянтина і Єлени.jpg, Saints Constantine and Helen Church

Маріуполь. Колишній Харлампіївський собор 1845 р.добудови 1892, фото 1900 р.jpg, Cathedral of St. Charalambos

Ukr Donobl Mariupol St. Micholas Cathedral 2 2020 SU-HS.jpg, Cathedral of Saint Nicholas
Mariupol 2007 (47).jpg, Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel
Ukr Donobl Sartana Church of St. George 1 2020 SU-HS.jpg, Cathedral of Saint George

Ukr Donobl Mariupol Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God 1 2020 SU-HS.jpg, Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection

In addition to churches, there are 3 mosques around the city.

Economy

Employment

In 2009, the official rate of unemployment in the city was 2%. The figure, however, only includes people registered as "unemployed" in the local job centre. The real unemployment rate was therefore higher.

Industry

There are 56 industrial enterprises in Mariupol under various plans of ownership. The city's industry is diverse, with heavy industry dominant. Mariupol is home to major steel mills (including some of global importance) and chemical plants; there is also an important seaport and a railroad junction. The largest enterprises are Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, Azovstal, Azovmash Holding, and the Mariupol Sea Trading Port. There are also shipyards, fish canneries, and various educational institutions with studies in metallurgy and science.

The total industrial production of the city for eight months in 2005 (January – August) was 21378.2 million hryvnas (US$4.233 billion), compared to 1999 – 6169.806 million hryvnas (US$1.222 billion). This is 37.5% of the total production for Donetsk Oblast. The leading business of the city is ferrous metallurgy, which makes up 93.5% of the city's income from industrial production. The annual output estimates are in millions of tonnes of iron, steel, rolled iron, and agglomerate.

* Illich Steel and Iron Works (Mariupol Metallurgical Combine named Ilyich) is an integrated mill, with all the facilities for a full metallurgical cycle. Housing around 100 thousand workers, it is the second largest in Ukraine, after Kryvorizhstal. The company is the collective property of the Society of Tenants (Joint-Stock Company "Ilyich-steel"; with about 37,000 worker-shareholders). The head of the board of enterprise is the People's Deputy, Volodymyr Boyko. The enterprise has multiple structural divisions: Management of Public Catering and Trade ("УОПТ", a network of 52 enterprises), a chemist's network Ilyich-Pharm, more than 50 agro shops (former collective farms of the south of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts), the office of the Komsomol Mines, various machine-building enterprises in the Cherkasy Oblast, Mariupol International Airport, and the Mariupol Television Network (locally known as MTV).
* Azovstal is another integrated mill ("Combine"), the third largest in Ukraine in terms of gross revenue. Its production varies in millions of tonnes of pig-iron, steel, and rolled iron annually. The company's general director is Oleksiy Bilyi. Azovstal is closely connected with the Mariupol coke works "Markokhim" which serves as the supplier of coke.
* Open Society Azovmash (Holding) is the largest machine-building enterprise in Ukraine specialising in production of equipment for mining-metallurgical complexes, tank cars, port cranes, boilers, fuel-fillers, etc. The President is Oleksandr Savchuk. The enterprise was formerly owned by the state and was privatised by System Capital Management, a Donetsk financial and economic group.

* Azov ship-repair factory (АСРЗ) is the largest enterprise of its class on the Sea of Azov, also owned by System Capital Management.
* Open Society Mariupol sea trading port is the largest sea port in eastern Ukraine through which is transported large quantities of various products such as coal, metal, mechanical engineering products, varieties of ores and grains from and to various cities such as Donetsk, Kharkiv, and the near regions of the Russian Federation.
* Azov sea shipping company which was owned until 2003 by the Donbass Merchant Marine fleet, is now also under the ownership of System Capital Management. Donbass Merchant Marine is now a bankrupt enterprise which formerly operated out of ports on the Sea of Azov such as Mariupol, Berdyansk, and Taganrog (Russia).

The above-mentioned enterprises, along with a plethora of others not mentioned, are located in the free economic zone of ''Azov''.

Finances

The GDP of the city in 2004 was ₴22,769,400 ($4,510,400); it is listed in the state budget as ₴83,332,000 ($16,507,400). The city is one of the largest contributors to the Ukrainian national budget (after Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia).

The GPA of the city is ₴1,262.04 (~US$250.00) a month, one of the highest in the country. The average pension in the city is ₴423.15 ($83.82). Commercial debts in the city were reduced in 2005 to 1.1% or ₴5.1 million ($1.01 million).

Income from services rendered for 9 months of 2005 was ₴860.4 million ($107.4 million) and the volume of retail trade for the same period was ₴838.7 million ($166.1 million). The city's enterprises for 9 months of 2005 recorded a positive financial result (profit) of ₴3.2 billion ($634 million), which is 23.6% more than in the prior year (2004).

Culture

Cultural institutions

;Theatres:
* Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre. In 2003 the oldest theater in the region celebrated its 125th anniversary. For its contribution to the spiritual education of theater, in 2000 it was awarded the laureate in the competition «Gold Scythian». The theatre was largely destroyed by Russian airstrikes on 16 March 2022.

;Cinemas:
* Pobeda ("Victory") – now closed
* Savona
* Multiplex

Palaces of culture (recreation centres) (together with so-called clubs – 16):
* Metallurgov ("Metallurgists") of Ilyich Steel & Iron Works
* Azovstal of Azovstal Steel & Iron Works
* Iskra ("Spark") of Azovmash Machine-builder Concern
* MarKokhim (Mariupol Coke Chemistry)
* Moryakov ("Sailors")
* Stroitel ("Builders")
* Palace of children's and youth art ("Palace of Children art")
* Municipal Palace of Culture

;Showrooms and museums:
* Mariupol Regional Museum
* Kuindzhi Art Exhibition
* Museum of Folk Life (formerly, the museum of Andrey Zhdanov)
* Museum halls of the industrial enterprises and their divisions, establishments and the organisations of city, and others.

;Libraries (35):
* Korolenko Central Library;
* Gorky Central Children's Library;
* Serafimovich Library (The oldest library in the city);
* And also: Gaydar Library, Honchar Library, Hrushevsky Library, Krupskaya Library, Kuprin Library, Lesya Ukrainka Library, Marshak Library, Morozov Library, Novikov-Priboy Library, Pushkin Library, Svetlov Library, Turgenev Library, Franko Library, Chekhov Library, Chukovsky Library, the libraries of industrial enterprises, establishments, and the organisations of the city.

Art and literature

Creative Organisations of Artists, Union of Journalists of Mariupol, the Literary Union «Azovye» (from 1924, about 100 members), and others. Works of Mariupol poets and writers: N. Berilov, A. Belous, G. Moroz, A. Shapurmi, A. Savchenko, V. Kior, N. Harakoz, L. Kiryakov, L. Belozerova, P. Bessonov, and A. Zaruba are written in the Russian, Ukrainian, and Greek languages. Presently, 10 members of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine live in the city.

Festivals

From 2017 Mariupol has hosted the MRPL City Festival, an annual music festival, held every August on Pishchanka beach. The festival began in 2017 as "the biggest event on the East Coast." The festival is multi-genre: each scene has its own style.

Gogolfest is an annual multidisciplinary international festival of contemporary art, which contains theatrical performances, day and night musical performances, film shows, art exhibitions and dialogues. In 2018–2019 Gogolfest was held in Mariupol. In 2019 the festival lasted from 26 April to 1 May 2019.

Tourism and attractions

Tourist attractions are mainly on the coast of the Sea of Azov. Around the city a strip of resort settlements was established: Melekino, , Yalta, Donetsk Oblast, Sedovo, Bezymennoye, Sopino, ,

The first resorts in the city opened in 1926. Along the sea a narrow bar of sandy beaches stretches for 16 km. Water temperature in the summer ranges from . The duration of the bathing season is 120 days.

Parks

* City Square (Theatrical Square)
* Extreme Park (new attractions near to the biggest in city of the Palace of Culture of Metallurgists)
* Gurov Meadow-park (former Meadow-park a name of the 200-anniversary of Mariupol)
* City Garden ("Children's Central Public Garden")
* Veselka Park ( Livoberezhnyi Raion), named for the rainbow
* Azovstal Park (Livoberezhnyi Raion)
* Petrovsky Park (near the modern Volodymyr Boiko Stadium and constructions of "Azovmash" basketball club, Kalmiuskyi Raion)
* Primorsky Park (Prymorsky Raion)

Monuments

Mariupol has monuments to Vladimir Vysotsky, and in honour of the liberation of Donbass, the metallurgists, and others.

The city of Mariupol has several parks and squares, the most popular being the City Square (Theater Square), the Amusement Park, the Gurov Park (formerly Mariupol Bicentenary Park), the Petrovski Park, the City Gardens (with monuments to the heroes of the Second World War, inaugurated in 1863, the Vessiolka park, the Azovstal park, the Sea park (formerly of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the October Revolution).

Mariupol is known for its many memorials, statues and sculptures, including the bust of Mariupol-born painter Arkhip Kuindzhi, a statue of Taras Shevchenko, founder of the Ukrainian literary language in the second half of the 19th century, as well as Pushkin, representing the Russian language. Four statues of Lenin remain as testimonies to history. A statue of Andrei Zhdanov after whom the city was named from 1948 to 1990, dominated the central square of the city in the Soviet period but was removed in 1990. A statue of the iconoclastic singer Vladimir Vysotsky (former husband of the Russian-French actress Marina Vlady), was inaugurated in 1998. A bust of the winner of the White Army, commander of a battalion in the region in April 1919, Kuzma Anatov, was inaugurated in 1968 on the street of the same name.

The Great Patriotic War is the subject of some fifteen monuments, statues, tanks, busts, etc. in honor of the Red Army, a fighting unit, a glorious deed or a hero who died in combat to liberate the country from the Third Reich, such as the monument to the twelve patriots shot by the Germans on March 7, 1942.

A large statue commemorating the liberation of Donbass dominates the square on Nakhimov Avenue. The eternal flame burns before the monument to the victims of Nazism. A monument to the victims of Stalinism was erected on Theatre Square, as well as a large cross in 2008 at the main cemetery, in memory of the victims of the great famine of the 1920s following dekulakisation. A large stone with a commemorative plaque, in an alley off Lenin Avenue, commemorates the victims of Chernobyl.

There are also monuments to Makar Maza, Hryhoriy Yuriyovych Horban, K.P. Apatov, and Tolya Balabukha, to seamen–commandos, to pilots V.G. Semenyshyn and N.E. Lavytsky, and to soldiers of the Soviet 9th Aviation Division. The artists V. Konstantynov and L. Kuzminkov are the sculptors of some of the monuments, including the monument to Metropolitan Ignatiy, the founder of Mariupol, (1715–1786, canonized in 1998 by the Orthodox Church) recently erected near St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Infrastructure

Mariupol is the second most populous city in Donetsk Oblast after Donetsk, and is amongst the ten most populous cities in Ukraine. See the list of cities in Ukraine.

Architecture and construction

Old Mariupol is an area defined by the coast of the Sea of Azov to the south, the Kalmius River to the east, to the north by Shevchenko Boulevard, and to the west by Metalurhiv Avenue. It is made up mainly of low-rise buildings and has kept its pre-revolutionary architecture. Only Artem Street and Miru Avenue were built after World War II.

The central area of Mariupol (from Metalurhiv Avenue up to Budivelnykiv Avenue) is made up almost entirely of administrative and commercial buildings, including a city council building, a post office, the Lukov cinema, Mariupol State University of Humanities, Priazov State Technical University, the Korolenko central city library, and many large stores.

The architecture of other residential areas (Zakhidny, Skhidny, Kirov, Cheremushky, and 5th and 17th quarters) is not particularly distinctive or original and consists of typical apartment buildings of five to nine storeys.

The term "Cheremushki" carries a special meaning in Russian culture and now also in Ukrainian; it usually refers to the newly settled parts of a city. The city's residential area covers 9.82 million square meters. The population density is 19.3 square meters per inhabitant.

Industrial construction prevails. Mass building of habitable quarters within the city ended in the 1980s. Mainly under construction now are comfortable habitations. The city's construction industry for nine months of 2005 executed a volume of civil contract and building works of 304.4 million hrivnas (US$60 million). The city density on this parameter is 22.1%.

Mariupol has been almost completely destroyed during the ongoing Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Main streets

* Avenues: Miru, Metalurhiv, Budivelnykiv, Ilyich, Nakhimov, Peremohy, Lunin, and Leningradsky (in Livoberezhnyi Raion)
* Streets: Artem, Torhova, Apatov, Kuprin, Uritsky, Bakhchivandzhi, Gagarin, Karpinsky, Mamin-Sibiryak, Taganrog, Olympic, Azovstal, Makar Mazay, Karl Liebknecht
* Boulevards: Shevchenko, Morskyi, Prymore, Khmelnytsky, etc.
* Squares: Administrative, Nezalezhnosti, Peremohy, Mashinobudivnykiv, Vioniv, Vyzvolennia.

Transportation

* Mariupol railway station: The city is connected by rail to Donbass (the Direction of trains being: Moscow, Kyiv, Lviv, Saint Petersburg, Minsk, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kharkiv, Slavyansk-na-Kubani).
* A marina near the Port of Mariupol.
* Mariupol International Airport (the property Ilyich Mariupol steel and iron works).

City transport

Mariupol has transportation including bus transportation, trolleybuses, trams, and fixed-route taxis. The city is connected by railways, a seaport and the airport to other countries and cities.

* Urban electric transport (MTTU, Mariupol Tram-trolleybus management):
** Trams, streetcars (since 1933) – 12 routes (models of type KTM-5 and KTM-8 operate),
** Trolleybuses (since 1970) – 14 routes (machines of type: Škoda 14Tr, ZiU-10, ZiU-9, YuMZ T-1, YuMZ T-2, :de:MAN SL 172 HO).
* Buses – mainly marshrutka, Rostov-upon-Don, Krasnodar, Kyiv, Odessa, Yalta, Dnipro are carried out, etc.) and a suburban auto station (with routes to Pershotravnevy, Volodarsky and areas of Donetsk oblast).

Communications

All leading Ukrainian mobile communications carriers have served Mariupol. In Soviet times, ten automatic telephone exchanges were operational; six digital automatic telephone exchanges were recently added.

Health service

There are 60 medical and medical-health establishments in the city — hospitals, polyclinics, the station of blood transfusion, urgent care clinics, sanatoriums, sanatoriums-preventive clinics, regional centre of social maintenance of pensionaries and invalids, city centres: gastroenterology, thoracic surgery, bleedings, pancreatic, microsurgery of the eye. Central pool-hospital on a water-carriage. The largest hospital is the Mariupol regional intensive care hospital.

Education

Eight-one general educational establishment are operational, including: 67 comprehensive schools (48,500 students), two grammar schools, three lyceums, four evening replaceable schools, three boarding schools, two private schools, eleven professional educational institutions (6,274 students), and 94 children's preschool establishments (12,700 children).

Three higher education establishments:
* Priazovsky State Technical University
* Mariupol State University
* Azovsky Institute of Marine Transport

Local media

More than 20 local newspapers are published, mostly Russian language-based, including:
* ''Priazovsky Rabochy'' (Priazovdky Worker)
* ''Mariupolskaya Zhizn'' (Mariupol Life)
* ''Mariupolskaya Nedelya'' (Mariupol Week)
* ''Ilyichevets''
* ''Azovstalets''
* ''Azovsky Moryak'' (Azov Seaman)
* ''Azovsky Mashinostroitel'' (Azov Machine-builder)

Twelve radio stations, and seven regional television companies and channels:

* Sigma Broadcasting Company
* MTV Broadcasting Company (Mariupol television)
* TV 7 Broadcasting Company
* Inter-Mariupol Broadcasting Company
* Format Broadcasting Company

Retransmitting about 15 national public channels (Inter, 1+1, STB, NTN, 5 Channel, ICTV, First National TV, New Channel, TV Company Ukraina, etc.)

Public organizations

There are about 300 public associations, including 22 trade-union organizations, about 40 political parties, 16 youth groups, four women's organizations, 37 associations of veterans and disabled, and 134 national and cultural societies.

Sports

Mariupol is the hometown of the nationally famous swimmer Oleksandr Sydorenko who lived in the city, until his death on 20 February 2022.

FC Mariupol is a football club, with a great sport traditions and a history of participation at the European level competitions.

The water polo team, the «Ilyichevets», is the undisputed champion of Ukraine. It has won the Ukrainian championship 11 times. Every year it plays in the European Champion Cup and Russian championship.

Azovstal' Canoeing Club on the Kalmius River. Vitaly Yepishkin – third place in the World Cup in the 200m K-2.

Azovmash Basketball Club, similarly to the "Ilichevets" Water-polo Club, has numerous national championship titles. Significant successes were obtained as well by the Mariupol schools of boxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, artistic gymnastics, and other types of sport.

Sports building in the city (count 585):
* Volodymyr Boiko stadium
* Azovstal sports complex
* Azovets stadium (in the past known as Locomotive)
* Azovmash sports complex
* Sadko sports complex
* Vodnik sports complex
* Neptune public pool
* Azovstal chess club

Notable people

* Mikhail Averbakh (1872–1944), Russian and Soviet ophthalmologist
* Dmitry Aynalov (1862–1939) a Soviet and Russian art historian and university professor
* Nikki Benz (born 1981), pornographic actress
* Vadym Boychenko (born 1977) Ukrainian politician, the Mayor of Mariupol
* Abram Budanov (1886–1929) a Ukrainian anarchist military commander
* Diana Hajiyeva (born 1989), singer who represented Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
* Konstantin Ivashchenko (born 1963) politician and businessman, de facto Mayor of Mariupol
* Felix Krivin (1928–2016) a Soviet, Ukrainian and Israeli poet, author and screenwriter.
* Arkhip Kuindzhi (1842–1910), a Ukrainian landscape painter of Pontic Greek descent.
* Leonid Lukov (1909–1963) a Soviet film director and screenwriter.
* Ivan Ivanovich Mavrov (1936–2009), physician
* Julie Pelipas (born 1984) a Ukrainian stylist and local fashion director of Vogue
* Vyacheslav Polozov (born 1950), opera singer and professor of voice
* Alexander Sakharoff (1886–1963), Russian Empire dancer, teacher and choreographer; emigrated to France.
* Mykola Trofymenko (born 1985) a Ukrainian academic political scientist.
* Voron Viacheslav (born 1967), singer, composer and music producer
* Viacheslav Voron (born 1967) a singer-songwriter of the Russian and Ukrainian chanson
* Sergey Voychenko (1955–2004), Belarusian artist and designer.
* Alfred Wintle MC (1897–1966) a British military officer and one of London's great eccentrics.
* Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi (born 1959) a wealthy Ukrainian businessman.
* Anna Zatonskih (born 1978), Ukrainian American chess player
* Andrei Zhdanov (1896–1948), Soviet politician and cultural ideologist.

Sport

* Sergei Baltacha, (born 1958), former 1988 European Football Championship runner-up
* Oleksandr Haydash (born 1967) former Ukrainian Russian football striker with 437 club caps.
* Oleh Kyryukhin (born 1975) a light flyweight boxer, bronze medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
* Alexander Oleinik (born 1986) kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter
* Vyacheslav Oliynyk (born 1966) Ukrainian wrestler and gold medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics
* Eduard Piskun (born 1967) is a Ukrainian former football player with over 450 club caps
* Viktor Prokopenko (1944–2007) a Ukrainian football player and coach
* Ihor Radivilov (born 1992), Olympic, world and European medalist in gymnastics
* Oleksandr Sydorenko (1960–2022), individual medley swimmer, gold medallist at the 1980 Summer Olympics
* Tetiana Ustiuzhanina (born 1965) competitive rower, team bronze medallist at the 1992 Summer Olympics
* Oleksandr Volkov (born 1961) a former Soviet footballer with 515 club caps and Ukrainian football manager.

International relations

Twinning with Sankt Petrsburg

Some Russian cities are twinned with ones in occupied Ukraine, in particular, Saint Petersburg is twinned with Mariupol. An art symbol of the twinning was unveiled on Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, defaced and removed. "Murderers, you bombed it": a schoolgirl was detained in St. Petersburg for writing on an installation about Mariupol
/ref>

References

External links

;in English:
*

Official website

welcome-to-mariupol.org.ua
– Welcome to Mariupol! – support and assistance for foreign visitors
Ilyich Mariupol steel and iron worksphotos of Mariupolphoto Mariupol: panoramic photos of Mariupol in 360 degreesThe murder of the Jews of Mariupol
during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.

;in Ukrainian:
*

Historical buildings in Mariupol Old Town

{{Authority control

Cities in Donetsk Oblast
Mariupolsky Uyezd
Populated places established in 1778
Populated coastal places in Ukraine
Port cities and towns in Ukraine
Port cities and towns of the Azov Sea
Greektowns
Cities of regional significance in Ukraine
1778 establishments in the Russian Empire
Populated places established in the Russian Empire
Holocaust locations in Ukraine
City name changes in the Soviet Union
Former Soviet toponymy in Ukraine
Territorial disputes of Ukraine
Destroyed cities
Razed cities
Mariupol Raion