Russians Rebuild Mariupol to Hide Thousands of Victims, Following Grozny’s Example, Says Zelenskyy

Russia’s approach to rebuilding Mariupol mirrors its controversial tactics in Grozny, where massive reconstruction efforts served to obscure the scale of human tragedy inflicted during the Chechen War.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed this concern in an interview with Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for Il Foglio, noting the impossibility of determining the true human toll without proper investigations on-site.

According to President Zelenskyy, initial estimates suggest that approximately 20,000 people may have been killed in Mariupol during the Russian siege. However, the lack of access for independent investigations leaves the actual figure uncertain. Thousands remain unaccounted for, with many believed to have been buried beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings.

Zelenskyy highlighted that Russia’s push to rebuild Mariupol is not merely about creating an illusion of recovery but also about erasing evidence of its war crimes. He drew parallels to the city of Grozny, where Russian forces rebuilt a completely destroyed city to mask the loss of lives and devastations of war.

The President underscored the scale of atrocities committed in Mariupol beyond those who perished. He revealed that Ukrainian authorities had successfully freed 4,000 prisoners from Russian captivity, but thousands more remain detained. Many of the detained individuals are civilians who protested during the occupation and were either killed, tortured, or imprisoned.

In addition, Russia has forcibly deported over 19,500 children from southern Ukraine, including Mariupol. The fates of these children remain unknown, adding to the long list of human rights violations committed during the ongoing war.

Zelenskyy explained that the rapid reconstruction of Mariupol follows a strategy previously employed in Grozny. “Imagine the Chechen War when Grozny was leveled to the ground as they fought for independence. There was no city left—everything was destroyed. Then, they built a new city, not just for appearances but to hide the bodies of those they killed,” Zelenskyy stated.