Mariupol mayor vows to rebuild destroyed city

WASHINGTON — The exiled Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol has vowed to rebuild his decimated former city as he marked one yr because it fell to Russian occupying forces.

The seaside city, whose steel industry was once an economic powerhouse for the nation, saw its last Ukrainian forces withdraw from it a yr ago Saturday, after nearly three months of intense fighting.

But Vadym Boychenko is not deterred. And he has a multibillion-dollar plan to bring his city back to life, if the Russians are driven out.

“We’re working hard to organize the vital plans and recovery strategies in order that when town is liberated, we’re fully prepared and don’t waste time,” the mayor, who now lives elsewhere in Ukraine, told CNBC. “That is the moment when we have now to organize for our return to Mariupol as efficiently as possible,” he added. CNBC spoke to Boychenko in April and May for this story.

Boychenko, 45, was under no illusions, though, as he detailed the immense destruction in Mariupol and the financial hurdles facing Ukraine as Russia’s war drag into its five hundredth day.

“Mariupol is some of the destroyed cities in Ukraine today. The occupation forces damaged greater than 90% of town’s infrastructure,” he said. The strategic port city endured more brutality by Russian forces in two months than it did within the two years under Nazi occupation in the course of the Second World War, the mayor added.

Mariupol was once home to just about half 1,000,000 people. Now its population has been reduced to about 100,000, though Boychenko adds that the present figure is difficult to evaluate as a consequence of an absence of reporting in town.

He left Mariupol two days after Russian troops poured over Ukraine’s border in what became the most important air, land and sea assault in Europe since World War II. 

As Russian bombardment intensified across town, Boychenko learned that his grandmother took shelter alongside pregnant women and families with babies within the halls of the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater.

On March 16, 2022, the regal theater in town center became the positioning of certainly one of the deadliest known attacks on civilians for the reason that inception of the war. Boychenko’s grandmother didn’t survive her injuries sustained from the airstrike.

The attack on the theater got here one week after Russian bombs tore through a kid’s and maternity hospital in Mariupol. The bombing and pictures of bloodied pregnant women evacuated out of the rubble sparked a world outcry.

Boychenko said that indiscriminate Russian shelling has damaged nearly 20 hospitals, greater than 60 schools and almost 90 cultural sites in Mariupol.

He said Mariupol’s high-rise residential buildings have suffered essentially the most damage, with greater than 50% of the structures leveled by Russian shelling. If proven, what he claims could amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law.

“The situation with the fundamental life support systems is difficult, there is sort of no water, gas or electricity supply,” he said, adding that restoration of town’s critical infrastructure is his first priority and is predicted to take about two years.

Russia has previously said that its forces in Ukraine don’t goal civilians or civilian infrastructure and that the attacks on the theater and maternity hospital were staged.

Boychenko’s plan, dubbed “Mariupol Reborn,” consists of two stages: the rapid restoration of critical infrastructure, followed by reconstruction and city revival projects.

The resumption of basic services like water supply, electricity and the reopening of hospitals are just a few of the immediate concerns that shall be addressed in the primary phase. He estimates that Ukraine will need about $378 million in investment for the primary stage.

Boychenko said that the second phase of the project is predicted to cost roughly $15.6 billion, though adds that the figure is predicated on preliminary assessments.

“Along with our international partners and the World Bank we are going to assess the extent of the destruction and record the damage caused to Mariupol,” he said, adding that the present price tag is barely an estimation.

In March, the federal government of Ukraine, World Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations put the fee of Ukraine’s reconstruction projects at $411 billion. The group said the highest needs are primarily in rebuilding transportation infrastructure, housing and energy systems.

Before Russia’s invasion last February, Mariupol was affectionately often known as the mighty Ukrainian city with a fierce, steel heart.

“It was a robust industrial and business center with two large metallurgical enterprises and a seaport,” Boychenko said when asked in regards to the city’s contribution to Kyiv’s economy before the war.

“Mariupol produced about 12 million tons of steel per yr, which is 4.5% of Ukraine’s gross domestic product and seven% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings,” he said, adding that the Mariupol’s steel industry created roughly 50,000 jobs.

At nearly $70 billion, Ukraine’s exports in 2021 were led by its agricultural sector and the country’s metal industry.

Servicing each industries is Mariupol’s port on the Sea of Azov, certainly one of Ukraine’s busiest shipping lanes answerable for exporting agricultural products, coal and steel.

Olena Lennon, a professor within the national security department on the University of Recent Haven, said certainly one of Russia’s fundamental goals in seizing Mariupol was to dam port access in an effort to further degrade Ukraine’s economy.

“The Sea of Azov port in Mariupol is certainly one of the important thing Ukrainian ports for each industrial and agricultural products,” Lennon told CNBC.

“By denying Ukraine access to the port, the Russians weren’t only trying to forestall Ukraine from being a prosperous state but additionally denying Ukraine the flexibility to sustain its economy during wartime,” said Lennon, who hails from the southeastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

She added that while Mariupol’s coastline on the Sea of Azov is strategic, the once-industrious seaside city has also turn into a “poster child” of Ukrainian resistance against Russian aggression since 2014.

“Mariupol resisted that occupation and have become an emblem of Ukrainian patriotism in a sea of what was perceived as pro-Russian influence,” Lennon said, explaining that Russian forces were keen to level town despite having to later rebuild components of it.

“It’s never been about controlling these cities to bring about a special life or to take care of infrastructure. It’s all about chipping away at Ukrainian sovereignty and undermining the Ukrainian state,” she said. “There’s zero regard for populations.”