Mariupol only for the invaders. Russia changes street names to totally plunder Ukrainian owners
The Russian occupation regime in Mariupol is changing street names in some of the regions which it first bombed and has now demolished. As well as trying to push its false claims about ‘Russian Donbas’ by installing Russian names, Russia is doubtless doing this in part to remove names, like Azovstal, which became associated far beyond Ukraine with Ukrainians’ courageous defence of a city under savage Russian attack. There is, however, another, openly criminal motive., with such name changes facilitating Russia’s plunder of Mariupol residents’ property.
Reports suggest that the humanitarian situation in many of the cities, especially in Luhansk oblast, that Russia massively bombed before seizing remain dire. In those areas Rusia has destroyed independent media and blocked international media, so such devastation largely goes unnoticed, however even the Russians themselves admitted that it was “not worth” rebuilding some cities (Popasna, Rubizhne) which they had razed to the ground.
Mariupol was always different, partly because of the importance to Russia of the port city in Donetsk oblast, but also because of the months in 2022 when the world watched Russia’s relentless bombing and shelling of hospitals, residential buildings and the Drama Theatre which was sheltering refugees, while blocking humanitarian aid in and safe passage out. As soon as it gained full control of the city, Moscow set about a major propaganda effort to rewrite the facts, to blame Ukraine for its worst atrocities, and to claim full and speedy ‘restoration’ of the city’.
Many of the areas most heavily bombed have, indeed, undergone ‘reconstruction’. It swiftly transpired, however, that Russia’s demolition of entire apartment blocks or even streets was another blow to the former residents. The new apartment blocks on the land where their homes had stood were being built to be sold, with the buyers effectively only those from Russia, as Mariupol residents had lost everything, and could not afford the mortgage ‘offered’ to buy their own property.
Ukrainian journalist Denis Kazansky has posted the latest of many collective video appeals from Mariupol residents. The appeal here, as is often the case, is addressed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, with this less likely to be s statement about the residents’ politics, than the lack of any other options for posting unpleasant truths at conflict with Russia’s aggressive propaganda. All have been “living like nomads” in rented accommodation since March 2022. They were not even put up in hostels, they say, because there simply weren’t enough places there for so many people. The residents stress that their homes in the Stadion district were all privately owned property. The entire district was demolished, without anyone even informing them of such plans, nor showing them a copy of the relevant decision. New apartment blocks are planned for the territory, but these are to be sold to those who can afford to pay the mortgages proposed.
None of the above is new, however there is a further, immensely cynical, development, probably aimed at denying the real owners’ their right even to some kind of compensation for the land on which their apartments stood. The occupation regime is changing the names of several of the streets, including Azovstalska St, with this now to be named after Tula, the city and oblast in Russia. The residents are convinced that this will make it hard to prove that they own the property. This should not, obviously, be the case, but given the clear will to deny the Ukrainian residents their rights, it is very likely that this will be what happens.
A group of Mariupol residents, whose nine-storey apartment block on Poltavska Street had been bombed in 2022, resorted to a public appeal via YouTube in August 2024. Their message was poignantly simple: “We want to live in our home”.
See: ‘Nowhere but the cemetery: Russia destroys Mariupol and plunders land, leaving residents homeless