Russian Federation appropriates homes of Mariupol residents who fled city after invasion

Mariupol, photo from mrlp.city

The Russian Federation is massively confiscating the homes of Ukrainians in Mariupol who fled the city after the outbreak of a full-scale war.

This is stated in an investigation by the BBC Verify project.

It is noted that since July 2024, the Russian administration has recognised at least 5,700 apartments owned by Ukrainian citizens as subject to confiscation.

Most of the confiscated apartments belong to Ukrainians who fled Mariupol or died during the 86-day siege in 2022. According to Human Rights Watch, more than eight thousand civilians were killed, but the actual number of casualties could be much higher.

«In order to keep their homes, owners need to return to Mariupol via Russia, undergo filtration, lengthy inspections and complex bureaucratic procedures, including obtaining a Russian passport. This makes it virtually impossible to return their homes and dangerous to attempt to do so», the investigation says.

The investigation notes that the Russian Federation classifies such apartments as «ownerless», although their owners — Ukrainian citizens who left Mariupol or relatives of the deceased residents — are known. In 2024, Russia passed a law that accelerates the transfer of this housing to new residents — Russian citizens from the occupied part of Donetsk region.

As a reminder, a monument to a Russian soldier who killed local residents and took part in the occupation of the city was erected in the temporarily occupied Mariupol.