Residents of Mariupol used to regard themselves as immune to the turmoil enveloping southern Ukraine after they saw off pro-Russian separatists eight years ago.
"We Mariupol people thought we’d smelled the gunpowder in 2014 and seen a lot,” said Ivan Goltvenko, director of personnel and administration at the city’s Metinvest-owned Azovstal steel plant. "But guess what — we were wrong.”
Now, their city lies in ruins, civilians are buried in makeshift graves, and Mariupol has become a symbol of the devastation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to go to war with his neighbor.