Russia-Ukraine war: Mariupol's reconstruction may cost over $14 bn, says Mayor Boichenko

Mariupol's reconstruction will cost more than $14 billion, and it will take seven to 10 years for the city to be fully restored, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said on July 6, the Mariupol City Council informed. He claimed that the war caused 1,356 high-rise structures to be destroyed or damaged in the city. Additionally, 40% of private homes were bombed and the majority of them cannot be rebuilt.

Assuming 220,000 people will live there, experts' preliminary estimates of the cost of infrastructure restoration total more than $14 billion. The final sum will be determined following the evaluation of the destroyed structures, which may occur following de-occupation. A significant Ukrainian company and the European Investment Bank have already signalled their willingness to assist with reconstruction, according to Kyiv Independent.

"We cooperate with various experts from cities that were destroyed during the Second World War. These are Gdansk, Warsaw, Dresden, Rotterdam. We study their reconstruction experience. We hope that there will be a separate chapter for Mariupol in the Marshalʼs plan for the whole country. I believe that together we will revive Mariupol and make it even better," Vadym Boychenko was quoted by Kyiv Independent as saying.

For 82 days, Mariupol was defended by the Ukrainian troops. At the very end, the city's defenders concentrated the enemy's forces at the Azovstal plant to buy time for the Armed Forces to move in other directions and positions. The evacuation of soldiers from the plant began on May 16. They were taken to the Russia-occupied Olenivka.

Russia-Ukraine war

Meanwhile, at least seven people have died and 25 have been injured in Ukraine as a result of Russian shelling in the last 24 hours, The Associated Press  reported citing Ukrainian officials. According to the country's presidential office, the majority of civilian casualties occurred in the Donetsk province, where Russian forces intensified their offensive in recent days, and where Russian forces targeted cities and villages in southeast Ukraine.

City Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported one civilian fatality in each of the Donetsk cities of Sloviansk, Krasnohorivka, and Kurakhove, as well as two fatalities in Avdiivka, the province's capital. Following the capture of the final two towns in the neighbouring Luhansk region, Russian troops are now engaged in fierce combat and moving into Ukraine's Donetsk region.

(Image: AP)