Official: Russia demolishes 50 multi-story buildings in occupied Mariupol

Russia has demolished 50 ruined buildings once home to at least 2,500 apartments in occupied Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko, advisor to the city's mayor, reported on Dec. 30.

As of December, 90% of the strategic port city in Donetsk Oblast was destroyed by Russia's brutal siege of the city from February to April 2022.

Around 100,000 residents, less than a quarter of the city's pre-war population, still reside in occupied Mariupol, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Earlier, Dmytro Lubinets, chairperson of Ukraine's Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, said in late November that citizens from more than 50,000 apartments have lost their homes. He added that Russia plans to demolish nearly a thousand residential buildings “in order to hide the consequences of their bombings.”