Russian occupying forces have begun demolishing historically significant buildings in the centre of Mariupol, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor, said on Telegram on December 25, 2022, Ukrinform reported.
“Under the excavator”
“In the heart of the city, the occupiers began to demolish buildings, including those of historical significance,” Andriushchenko wrote. Among them was the well-known House with a Clock, which once housed the studio of the muralist and mosaic artist Arnautov. “Under the excavator,” he wrote of the building.
Andriushchenko said the occupiers were destroying everything of historical value in the city.
The theatre
Russian forces had earlier demolished the Mariupol Drama Theatre. In March 2022, a Russian bomb struck the theatre, where hundreds of people, including many children, were sheltering.
A city erased
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, was besieged by Russian forces for nearly three months in the spring of 2022 and largely destroyed before its last defenders at the Azovstal steel plant surrendered in May. Since then, Russian authorities have been tearing down damaged buildings and promoting reconstruction projects in the occupied city, which Ukrainian officials say aim to erase evidence of the destruction and the city’s Ukrainian heritage.
Sources
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