# Siege of Mariupol **Status: stub — expand.** Russia's encirclement and destruction of Mariupol, the Ukrainian-held port on the Sea of Azov that had sat just behind the Donbas front line since 2014, in the first three months of the full-scale invasion. Taking it completed the land bridge from Russia to occupied Crimea. - **March 16, 2022** — a Russian airstrike destroyed the Drama Theatre, where civilians had painted "CHILDREN" in Russian on the ground outside; an AP investigation estimated about 600 dead. - The last defenders held out in the Azovstal steel works; Russia's defense ministry announced the site's full capture on the evening of **May 20, 2022**. The city's name had already entered American politics once: [[Konstantin Kilimnik]] called his 2016 plan to install [[Viktor Yanukovych]] over an autonomous Donbas the "Mariupol plan" — see [[Mariupol Plan]]. ## See also - [[Ukraine War Timeline]] · [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] · [[Mariupol Plan]]