In occupied Mariupol, new apartments rise where bombed homes once stood
A Russian developer has demolished war-destroyed apartment blocks in occupied Mariupol and built a new residential complex, sold mainly to Russian citizens through cheap mortgages. Former residents who fled the city say none of them received housing in the new buildings.
In Mariupol, where the United Nations says 90% of buildings were damaged or destroyed during the 2022 siege, new apartment blocks are now rising quickly across the city. Former residents told Deutsche Welle that their homes on Metallurgy Avenue were destroyed in Russian missile strikes in March 2022, attacks in which neighbors were killed or wounded.
Russian construction company Su-2007, which operates in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, cleared several war-damaged buildings on the avenue and built a new residential complex called Leningradsky Kvartal in their place — 15 buildings of 12 to 15 floors, close to the city center and a short drive from the sea.
Cheap mortgages draw buyers from Russia
According to an economist cited by DW, buyers of the new apartments are mostly incomers from Russia: security personnel, officials, people working in military logistics, and others drawn by the coastal location who cannot afford similar property in Crimea or Sochi. Russian citizens in the occupied regions can access mortgages at a fixed 2% annual interest rate, borrowing up to 6 million rubles. Apartment prices have risen by a third in the past year, even though the buildings are reportedly of poor construction quality.
DW noted it cannot report directly from the occupied territory, so its account is based on interviews with former residents, online research and satellite imagery.
Former residents left out
Sources told DW that none of the former inhabitants of the destroyed Metallurgy Avenue buildings received an apartment in the new complex, and many could not afford a mortgage in any case. Some residents whose apartments survived the strikes were reportedly still ordered to leave by the occupying authorities, with promises of replacement housing that did not materialize; some were instead placed in accommodation on the outskirts of the city or in hostels.
Former residents such as English teacher Halyna Artemova and photographer Yevhen Sosnovsky, both of whom were wounded in the attacks before fleeing, said the local population is being pushed out of the city. Neither plans to return or register property under the rules set by the Russian occupation authorities. Ukraine, lacking access to the occupied region, is currently unable to assess or compensate residents for lost property there.
