Editor’s note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. While hiding from almost non-stop Russian bombardment in the dark and cold bunkers of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Dmytro Kozatskyi took his most famous and arguably most valuable photographs. He showed the world what it was
Dmytro Kozatskyi, call sign "Orest," is a Ukrainian soldier who formerly headed the press service of the Azov regiment. In this video, Kozatskyi breaks down his famous photographs and shares his memories about the Russian siege of Mariupol.
The Wurzburg Prosecutor's Office has opened a preliminary investigation into the German building materials manufacturer Knauf, allegedly involved in the reconstruction of Russian-occupied Mariupol, Russian state-controlled news outlet RIA Novosti reported on April 22.
The German producer of building materials Knauf said it is ceasing its operations in Russia in the light of "current events," Business Insider reported on April 22, citing a statement from the company.
German companies Knauf and WKB Systems GmbH are involved in the so-called restoration efforts of occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast, which was destroyed by Russian troops, according to an investigation published on April 3 by journalists of the Monitor program of the German TV channel ARD.
The film "20 Days in Mariupol," directed by Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov, won the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10. The documentary records the Russian siege of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast from the perspective of Chernov and his crew during the first weeks of
A Russian court in Rostov-on-Don has handed a 20-year prison sentence in a maximum-security facility to Dmytro Yevhan, a Ukrainian servicemember who was captured defending the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol.
Editor’s Note: This story contains descriptions of graphic scenes. “My brain will desperately want to forget all this,” narrates journalist Mstyslav Chernov over footage he filmed of city workers adding bodies to a mass grave in Mariupol, “but the camera will not let it happen.” At the start of
Russia’s now-10-year war against Ukraine has affected every inch of the country, but no other region has taken the brunt of Russian aggression like Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. While the initial eight years of Russia's invasion only affected a handful of eastern Ukrainian
The Ukrainian documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” won an award for best documentary on Feb. 18 at the British Academy Film Awards.
A report published by Human Rights Watch, Ukrainian human rights organization Truth Hounds, and SITU Research on Feb. 8 identifies 17 military units that took part in Russia's assault on Mariupol at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A visit by the German ZDF TV channel's correspondent to Russian-occupied Mariupol without Kyiv's consent violated Ukrainian law, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said on Feb. 2.
After Russia’s relentless attacks in 2022, the port city of Mariupol in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast was left in ruins. Yet this has not stopped Russians from buying up houses and flats in Mariupol, or even trying to exchange them for their property in Russia.
The first Russian bomb hit the outskirts of Mariupol an hour after video journalist Mstyslav Chernov arrived to the city on Feb. 24, the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. For 20 days that followed, Chernov’s team captured Russian blows strangling the city block by block.
Editor’s Note: The names of some of the people interviewed by the Kyiv Independent for this story have been changed to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Three months after Russia’s brutal months-long siege of Mariupol
On a warm day in mid-May, Ukrainian Tetiana Lastovych, 29, was getting ready to be discharged from the maternity hospital in the city of Zaporizhzhia after giving birth to her third child, a baby boy Illia. As she approached the glass doors to the hospital, Lastovych froze in shock: There
Throughout Russia's war, Ukrainians all over the country have shown remarkable courage, be it to help a stranger or save their loved ones. In this episode of our podcast “Did the War End?” we hear from one of those Ukrainians — Max — who drove from Kyiv to Mariupol in the middle
Azovstal, a steel plant in now Russian-occupied Mariupol, has become a symbol of Ukraine’s fierce resistance to the Russian invasion. Thousands of Ukrainian fighters defended the plant with little to no resources, refusing to surrender for nearly three months. In this episode of our podcast “Did the War End?
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that 264 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated on May 16 from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to hospitals in Russian-occupied Novoazovsk and Olenivka. Of those evacuated, 53 heavily wounded soldiers will receive medical treatment in Novoazovsk, while 211 will be transferred to Olenivka to
The wives of the last Ukrainian soldiers left in Mariupol, the southern city that is mostly occupied by Russians and 90% destroyed after weeks of constant Russian shelling, called on the world to help save their husbands. Five Ukrainian women whose husbands are among the Ukrainian soldiers holding out at
Viktoria Dubovitska, 24, and her two children survived the Russian bombing of the Mariupol Drama Theater by pure luck. Like hundreds of Mariupol residents, Dubovitska's family was sheltering near the theater’s main stage. But on March 16, her two-year-old daughter Anastasia got sick, and the family was offered a
Ukrainian marines defending Mariupol came out with a public statement criticizing President Volodymyr Zelensky and the army command. The 36th Marine Brigade accused the country’s leadership of abandoning them in the besieged port city with no ammunition left, saying that it might be their last day of fighting. “For
Ukraine's Azov regiment said on April 11 that Russia had used a poisonous substance against Ukrainian troops in Mariupol, a besieged port on the Sea of Azov. Azov leader Andriy Biletsky said that three people have clear signs of chemical poisoning. He added that there are no "disastrous consequences" for
“Sometimes hope returns to me. But sometimes it leaves, and I think that we are all going to die,” says Anastasiia Kiseliova, a 40-year-old mother of three, as she walks through the streets of Mariupol, voice-recording herself on an iPhone. “The city is gone,” she adds, her voice trembling. She
When Mariupol journalist Artem Popov speaks about his hometown, it sounds like he has a lump in his throat. The southeastern city of Mariupol has turned into a front line of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine. It’s dangerous to move around the city because Russian warplanes are flying
It is widely believed that Russian leadership expected its all-out invasion of Ukraine to succeed within days. Twenty days later, Ukraine still stands, and Russia has no major victories to claim. It seized only one large city and regional center, Kherson in southern Ukraine. To force Ukraine to surrender, Russia
