In June 2014, control of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol hung in the balance between pro-Russian separatists and government forces. Here is how it was recaptured by Kyiv as other nearby cities were lost.
The Struggle For Mariupol, A Decade Ago
A crowd storms past Ukrainian police into Mariupol’s council building on April 13, 2014.
Beginning in March 2014, Mariupol was plunged into a chaotic spring in which the southeastern Ukrainian city teetered between control by a motley array of pro-Russian crowds and Ukrainian law enforcement.
Crowds gather outside the Mariupol council building after its capture by pro-Russian activists on April 13.
Ukraine's largely Russian-speaking Donbas region at the time was in turmoil after the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Kremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February 2014.
Relatives of detained pro-Russian demonstrators clash with Ukrainian police in Mariupol on May 7.
On April 7, Donetsk, a major city 100 kilometers north of Mariupol, had come under de facto separatist control and Mariupol's status appeared to be hanging in the balance.
A masked man leaps over a burning barricade in central Mariupol on May 9.
By the beginning of May, sporadic shooting had begun to be heard. The city center was largely lawless and loyalties among local law enforcement appeared uncertain.
A police building in central Mariupol burns on May 9.
On May 9, Ukrainian troops launched an assault on a police building in the center of Mariupol under circumstances that remain disputed. Several people were killed in the fighting that day.
Ukrainian police interrogate two men at a checkpoint outside Mariupol on May 11.
Ukrainian forces set up checkpoints around the perimeter of Mariupol as the situation in the center remained tense
Crowds in Mariupol line up to sign a “referendum” on the status of the Donetsk region on May 11.
Kyiv called the referendums, which took place in Donbas regions outside the control of government forces, a "criminal farce."
Ukrainian troops atop a truck covered with makeshift armor on June 13.
On June 13, Kyiv launched a major military operation to retake Mariupol.
Mariupol locals look at a destroyed armored vehicle that had apparently belonged to separatist forces on June 13.
Several people were killed in the June 13 fighting, which ended with Kyiv regaining full control over the city.
A girl waves a flag during a pro-Ukrainian rally in Mariupol in August 2014.
By the summer of 2014, Mariupol was firmly back in Ukrainian hands and would remain so until Russia launched its 2022 full-scale invasion. Mariupol was surrounded by Russian forces in early 2022, sparking a siege that flattened much of the city and killed untold thousands of soldiers and civilians.