Mariupol Maternity Hospital Survivor Reemerges as Pro-Kremlin Influencer Praising Occupation

Marianna Vyshimirskaya, whose photo leaving a bombed Mariupol maternity hospital became an early symbol of the full-scale invasion, has since reemerged as a pro-Kremlin lifestyle blogger promoting support for Vladimir Putin and praising reconstruction in occupied areas, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe on November 19.

Novaya Gazeta Europe recalls that Vyshimirskaya, her face bloodied, was photographed as she was evacuated from Mariupol’s Maternity Hospital No. 3 after a March 9, 2022 airstrike that international media and human rights groups attribute to Russian forces.

After later briefly disputing Russian claims that the images were staged in a BBC interview, she stayed in temporally occupied territory, moved with her husband and newborn daughter to Donetsk, and shifted from beauty blogging to political and war-related posts on Telegram, where she has blamed Ukraine and NATO for shelling, promoted pro-Kremlin channels and reported delivering humanitarian aid and drones to Russian troops.

In March 2024, Vyshimirskaya posted a photograph of herself signing in support of Vladimir Putin’s presidential candidacy and wrote that Russia was “developing dynamically” despite sanctions and “working to make tomorrow better than yesterday,” framing the Russian leader as a guarantor of stability and progress.

Novaya Gazeta Europe reports that her Telegram channel has increasingly focused on the restoration of services and construction of new housing in Mariupol, highlighting the launch of public transport routes, water and power supplies, mobile networks, and new apartment blocks in districts that saw some of the heaviest fighting, while avoiding direct criticism of the Russian military campaign that destroyed much of the city.

The newspaper links Vyshimirskaya’s new public role to a small circle of influential patrons. It states that she began publicly thanking former Russian Central Bank deputy and ex-senator Alexander Torshin, as well as a businessman identified as Oleg Khusnullin, in late 2022 for assistance with medicine and other supplies for Donetsk.

Later, she appeared with them at charity events and described herself as a member of the “Assembly of the Peoples of Eurasia,” where Torshin sits on the higher advisory council.

Novaya Gazeta Europe also reports that income records show Vyshimirskaya has in recent years received salaries from the construction company Haus Grupp, where Khusnullin is listed as government relations director, as well as from the Cheboksary Apparatus Plant and a pharmaceutical laboratory called Biolife that works on quality certification for medicines and medical equipment, all firms whose interests he has promoted on Russia’s “new territories.”

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The outlet places Vyshimirskaya in a wider circle of Mariupol and Donbas lifestyle bloggers who showcase new boulevards and housing, echo claims that life has improved under Russian authorities, and largely omit that many residents remain displaced and that, according to Human Rights Watch and others, much of the city is still in ruins and mass graves.

Earlier, it was reported that Russian occupation authorities in Mariupol have created social media training centers that equip and coach local youth to produce pro-occupation content for official channels, portraying everyday life under Russian control as stable and normal.

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