REPORTING – The industrial and port city on the Sea of Azov, almost destroyed last year, is slowly coming back to life. The Russian president wants to make his rehabilitation an example for the annexed territories.
Special Envoy to Mariupol
” I feel good here. The only downside is that there are no shops or pharmacy nearby yet. We are promised that there will be. So we wait, the Russians are patient, you know…” From the window of her brand new apartment, Natalia has a view of the new Nievski district, on the outskirts of Mariupol. In this area, on either side of the avenue leading to the airport – closed since 2014 -, two dozen buildings have grown over the past six months and others are under construction. The dominating spectacle of a city that was almost wiped off the map last year and which currently looks like a vast building site. Work everywhere, workers in helmets, most from Central Asian countries or Belarus, trucks, often Chinese, cranes and earthmoving machinery… On the facades of these new six to nine-storey buildings, sections of walls are painted in green or yellow, bringing a touch of color in…
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