Siege of Mariupol, 24 February - 20 May 2022

The battle, stage by stage

1. 24 February - 2 March 2022

   The ring closes

   Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, and Mariupol, the Ukrainian-held port on the Sea of Azov that stood between Russian-occupied Crimea and the Russian-backed 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DPR), is shelled from the first day. From the west, Russian forces out of Crimea take Melitopol and land at Berdiansk on 25 February; Berdiansk falls on 27 February, and ISW assessed that the force advancing through it likely began its first assaults on Mariupol that day. From the east, Russian and DPR forces push in from the line of contact; on 26 February they break through the 36th Marine Brigade's battalion at Hnutove and the marines fall back to the city's outskirts. North of the city, Volnovakha is surrounded. Electricity, water and heat fail from 2 March, and ISW assessed Mariupol fully encircled that day. Inside are perhaps 3,500 or more Ukrainian defenders (Dupuy Institute estimate) and several hundred thousand civilians. (ISW 27 Feb and 2 Mar; HRW/SITU/Truth Hounds 2024; Militaryland; Dupuy Institute. Arrow routes are schematic.)

2. 3-9 March

   Siege, and the maternity hospital

   With the city cut off, Russian and DPR forces - ISW names the Russian 8th Combined Arms Army, probably with its 150th Motor Rifle Division, and DPR units - attack the Left Bank (Livoberezhnyi) district east of the Kalmius river first, while artillery and aircraft strike the whole city. Shells first hit the Central District on 3-4 March. On 9 March an airstrike hits the combined maternity ward and children's hospital at Hospital No. 3; AP journalists, the last international team in the city, film the aftermath. At least three people are reported killed, including a girl, and a pregnant woman who was carried out wounded later dies with her baby. The OSCE's Moscow Mechanism experts found the hospital was clearly identifiable and operating and concluded the attack was carried out by Russia and was a war crime; Russian officials called it 'staged'. The same day the first Russian ground troops reach the Central District. (HRW 2024; ISW 4 Mar; AP; OSCE ODIHR report, 13 Apr 2022.)

3. 10-17 March

   Into the center; the Drama Theater

   Russian troops push into the western end of the Central District around 10 March; on 12 March they take the eastern outskirts and the regional intensive care hospital, and move into a post office close to the Drama Theater. The 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, held back for a possible landing, is committed on 16 March (ISW), and at least five Russian warships shell the city from the sea between 15 and 22 March (HRW). On the morning of 16 March, two large bombs dropped by a Russian aircraft destroy the Drama Theater, where hundreds of civilians were sheltering and where the word 'children' had been written in large letters on the ground on both sides. Amnesty International found it a clear war crime and confirmed at least a dozen deaths; AP's reconstruction from survivors put the toll near 600; city officials said about 300. Russia's defense ministry blamed Ukrainian forces, which ISW called false. (ISW 12 and 17 Mar; HRW; Amnesty, June 2022; AP, May 2022; OHCHR.)

4. 18 March - 1 April

   Street by street

   Russian forces take the Port City shopping center about 3 km northwest of the theater on 17-19 March, and DPR forces claim the airport on 18 March. On 24 March ISW reports Russian forces in parts of central Mariupol, with naval infantry and Chechen units in the fighting and geolocated combat close to the center. In the north the 36th Marine Brigade holds the Ilyich steel works; in late March its 501st Battalion, holding the northern part of the plant, is lost - by one unofficial account it surrendered without warning, costing the defense almost 300 soldiers. By 1 April Russian and DPR forces hold the Left Bank except the blocks next to Azovstal. City authorities say about 6,000 residents have been deported to Russia (24 March; not independently verified). (ISW 24 Mar; HRW; Militaryland UNITREP.)

5. 2-10 April

   The city cut in two

   Russian and DPR forces clear the center block by block; Russian officials claim it on 7 April, and HRW dates the capture of the whole Central District, including Myru Avenue, to 10 April. Russian forces reportedly take the Azovstal bridge and the southern port on 7-8 April. On 10 April an assault from downtown takes the fishing port west of Azovstal and reaches the coast, splitting the defenders into separate pockets: the commercial port in the southwest, the Azovstal plant in the east, and the marines in the Ilyich works in the north. That night the 36th Marine Brigade's staff orders a withdrawal from the city; the first breakout attempt fails and the brigade commander and staff are captured (Militaryland). (ISW 10 Apr; HRW; Militaryland.)

6. 11-21 April

   Ilyich falls; the blockade

   On 11-12 April surviving marines from the Ilyich works break through to Azovstal - 186 by one unofficial count - and the commanders of the 36th Marine Brigade and the Azov Regiment appear in a joint video on 13 April. Russia's defense ministry claimed that 1,026 marines had surrendered at Ilyich; Reuters could not confirm it, and ISW assessed the claim was likely false, although many marines were captured. Russian forces take the Ilyich works on 13 April. About 500 fighters are reported pulled back from the port to Azovstal around 20 April (Ukrainska Pravda, citing media), and HRW dates the fall of the Prymorskyi district and the port to 20 April. On 21 April Russia's defense minister claims all of Mariupol except Azovstal; Putin calls off a storm of the plant and orders it sealed off 'so that not even a fly can get through'. (ISW 13 and 21 Apr; HRW; Militaryland; Reuters.)

7. 22 April - 20 May

   Azovstal

   The last defenders - the Azov Regiment, marines of the 36th Brigade, border guards, police and National Guard - hold the 11 sq km Azovstal works and its Soviet-era tunnels and bunkers, with hundreds of civilians sheltering underground. Bombing and assaults continue despite the blockade order; Russia claimed to have entered the plant on 4 May, which Ukraine denied. A UN-ICRC operation brings out the first 101 civilians from the plant from 29 April (127 evacuees reached Zaporizhzhia on 3 May), and Ukraine said by 7 May all women, children and elderly people had left. On 16 May Ukraine's General Staff declared the garrison's mission fulfilled and the wounded began to be evacuated to Russian-held areas. Russia's defense ministry said 2,439 defenders had surrendered by 20 May. Many were taken to the Russian-run prison at Olenivka. (ISW 21 Apr and 22 May; UN Ukraine, 3 May 2022; Al Jazeera, citing the Russian MoD; HRW.)