The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol lies in ruins after weeks of fighting. According to a media report, Russia is already making plans for reconstruction. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his feared paramilitaries are supposed to be in charge of this.
According to a media report, while the fighting in the Ukrainian Mariupol is apparently nearing its end, Russia is already making plans for further dealings with the port city. Accordingly, Moscow wants to hand over control of the city to Chechen paramilitaries, the so-called Kadyrovtsy, reports the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda. This force is commanded by Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov and supports Russia in the war of aggression against Ukraine.
As a source for its report, "Ukrajinska Pravda" cites Petro Andriuschchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, who spoke on Telegram. Andriushchenko cites informants close to the regional coordinator appointed by Russia, according to which the new "supervisors" over the reconstruction of the heavily damaged Mariupol are said to come from Chechnya.
"In order to intimidate and suppress the resistance, Mariupol will be handed over to the Kadyrovtsy. Including the port and the right to loot. We have now received partial confirmation of this," the report quoted Andryushchenko's Telegram channel as saying. The first meeting between State Duma deputy Dmitry Sablin and Chechen political officials is said to have taken place in Mariupol on Tuesday, at which plans for the "restoration of Mariupol" were discussed, reports Ukrajinska Pravda.
The Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, declared on April 4 that his city was "90 percent" destroyed. A week after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Russian artillery shelled Mariupol for the first time. The city, whose residents are predominantly Russian-speaking, is around 55 kilometers from the Russian border and 85 kilometers from the pro-Russian separatist stronghold of Donetsk. The fighting continued for weeks.
In the past few weeks, Ukrainian fighters had retreated to the Azovstal plant and entrenched themselves there. According to Russian information, around 960 of them have now surrendered, including 53 seriously injured soldiers. The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv has so far confirmed that 250 militants left the steelworks and surrendered to Russian troops.
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