Most people in Mariupol did not think that there would be a full-scale war.
In the last months before February 24, there were many foreign guests and journalists in the city. They expected to see armored personnel carriers on the streets, sandbags, but nothing happened. It was just a beautiful sunny city. People did not think about war at all.
When they say now about the pro-Russian sentiment in Mariupol, that here they always wanted Russia — nothing of the sort.
People wanted to live as richly as in Moscow or St. Petersburg. They saw a good picture on Russian TV and thought that this is how the whole of Russia lives. They wanted a pension like in Russia, and a salary like in Russia. Kyiv was not so inspiring [for them]. They thought that Kyiv was weak, and Russia was strong and all-powerful. This desire for everyone around to be afraid is from the past. When you are completely dependent on the employer, on the factory owner. You vote as he says, you go to events he invites you to, because you depend on him. It takes away any initiative and leaves an imprint on the way of thinking.
About 15% voted for Ukraine in Mariupol in 2015. The majority was against it.
These are the data of sociology, which was commissioned by the new city government, the former “Party of Regions”. In 2019, when this team was elected for the second time, everything changed, and the numbers completely changed. The majority of people — 60%, who previously voted for no one — took the side of Ukraine. They saw how the city was changing, how resources were invested. But that was a temporary position. Because people who change their views according to how much money they have invested in the city, they adjust just as easily when they change flags. Therefore, in reality, it was about equal for Russia and for Ukraine — 20% on both sides. Others fluctuated depending on the circumstances.
After 2015, the authorities avoided participating in all events related to Ukraine, patriotism and the liberation of Mariupol from the "DPR" gang.
The mayor simply let them through. It was a revealing story — he went to Kyiv under various pretexts. He did not want to be associated with anything pro-Ukrainian, because for Ukraine was 15%. And after 2019, the picture changed radically. They [people] all put on embroidered shirts because they saw the changes in society. In fact, the public sector did the most work on Ukrainization in Mariupol.
Education was the weakest branch. In 2014, school principals opened schools to hold an illegal referendum.
Only the intervention of journalists prevented this. And even then the Department of Education, headed by Zinovia Dmitrieva, was forced to forbid it. By the way, she and her husband are currently rebuilding the destroyed city in occupied Mariupol. The teachers were the least flexible, they didnʼt want to change, and now we see the consequences in occupied Mariupol.
The man who took the townspeople out of shelling from Mariupol hated the people for the manifestations of their disgrace inside.
He was a businessman who did everything at his own expense and then told me about it in an interview. He saw people who shoved TVs into his minibus and left their mother because they didnʼt have enough space for her. He saw people driving and taking the last food from those who remained [there]. A person in a stressful situation does not get better. War, like a searchlight, shows who is who, but does not change people. This is true not about the people of Mariupol, but about people in general.
My friend, a well-known public activist and journalist Andriy Kior, switched sides with Russia — it was a personal betrayal.
Previously, he was the head of Rinat Akhmetovʼs media holding, and actually managed Mariupol TV. Then he was fired. He tried to make documentaries. A creative, talented person with a pro-Ukrainian position. The man who made a film about the Cossack temple in Mariupol. He actually proved that the city was founded by Cossacks, not by Greeks or Russians. During the bombings, he sheltered about 80 people in his basement and provided them with food. They and their daughters sang and held concerts there. And suddenly I found out that he decided to stay and is making propaganda stories. His wife told me that they live with Ukraine in their hearts and that they are not going to make pro-Russian propaganda. They just want to show the city how it is being rebuilt. He was appointed the press secretary of the first Gauleiter of Mariupol Kostyantyn Ivashchenko, but was soon expelled. Now he is nobody, he is going to open a fish shop.
After the invasion, the audience of the site clearly split into 3 parts.
For those who left the occupation and remained in Ukraine; for those who left and went further abroad; and for those who remained in the occupation. And then a 4th division began: those who left the occupation began to be divided into those who left at the beginning of the full-scale occupation and were not in the blockade, and those who left after the blockade. That is, these are 4 audiences that now hardly understand each other. I donʼt know if you can say that this is a division of society, but this is the state our Mariupol community is in now. The 4 different parts at least do not understand each other, at most they simply hate each other.
In the first months of full-scale operation on the site, I was left alone. Colleagues later said: "We betrayed you."
At first I had a personal grudge, but now itʼs gone. Because me in 2022 and 2024 are different people. I learned to understand people and the reasons why they do some things. It is this point, when you begin to bring out a fighter for Ukraine and remain just a person, gives you the strength to forgive.
Mariupol is not lost. If (or when) there is de-occupation, people will change rapidly. The longer the occupation lasts, the less it is liked by those who welcomed it.
Itʼs just hard for people to admit it. They are looking for arguments in their favour so as not to admit that they were wrong. The majority in Mariupol found such an argument. They say that the mess, chaos and legal nihilism that reigns there is because they are the "DPR" and not the real Russia. That they were first joined there, and only then included in Russia. But if it were direct, everything would be fine.
There are already other people in Mariupol.
They came from Lysychansk, Yenakieve and Luhansk. They saw an empty house, agreed with the owners on a power of attorney that they could live there. Bashkirs and Russians come to buy real estate near the sea. This is like another universe.
Russia bought pensioners with high pensions, but there is no work for young people there.
Pensions there are higher than even in Russia — 25-30 thousand rubles (i.e. 10-15 thousand hryvnias). And the work there is only construction, but it is mostly for men. Women — unless you are a teacher or a doctor — have no job at all.
There is no mobilization in the city.
Putin is afraid of these territories. He is afraid of people, so he does not touch them yet. Together with a Russian passport, men are required to take an oath of allegiance to Russia and register for military service. Without this, there will be no citizenship. And a new "schtick": when one of our people tries to return to the occupation through “Sheremetyevo” airport, they were asked the question:
"Will you register? Go to the army? Defend the Russian Federation?". If not, the pass is denied. I think thatʼs the end of it anyway.
Lying for the sake of survival in the occupation is becoming the norm, and it will be difficult for us to fight against it.
Recently, a teacher wrote to our siteʼs Telegram bot. She works in Mariupol during the occupation, and the students asked her:
"So you say that Ukraine killed people here. Well, you and I know that Russia did it." And she replied that it is so easy to say safely, "so, kids, we will say that Ukraine killed everyone".
I will not return to Mariupol after the de-occupation.
I will come to fix the work of the site in order to create a new editorial staff of young, creative, progressive people, but I will not be able to live there. My youngest son — he is 11 years old — is a very big patriot. I canʼt imagine how I will put him at the same desk with a child who grows up under the Russian tricoloured flag, and who has a "heroʼs desk" in the classroom. He will constantly fight. I donʼt want such a life for him.
I hate injustice. I really want to look into the eyes of those who occupy someone elseʼs home and build a career there.
I want justice to be restored. And itʼs corroding [me] from the inside.
Independent journalism teaches you to draw the right conclusions. Support Babel: https://babel.ua/donate