On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine. Mariupol, an industrial port city with a population of approximately 450,000 was encircled by Russian troops on 1 March 2022. The Russians used multiple types of weapons, including aerial bombs. Mariupol was completely deprived of communication, electricity, gas and water supply. Fire stations were destroyed and hospitals were seriously damaged. It was nearly impossible to help those inside the besieged city. The last place where active hostilities took place was the Azovstal steel plant on the left bank of the Kalmius River. At the same time hundreds of city residents remained in Azovstal’s bomb shelters. After 20 May, the territory of Mariupol was completely occupied, so attempts to help citizens, as well as the process of documenting war crimes and human rights violations, became even more dangerous. It is impossible to calculate the number of dead and wounded in the occupied city. The number of civilian deaths during the siege is estimated to be in excess of 20,000. Ninety percent of buildings are seriously damaged, a third of them beyond repair. The term "urbicide" (murder of a city) is used in relation to Mariupol, as it was for Sarajevo and Aleppo. Approximately seventy-five percent of the city's population became displaced persons (within Ukraine), refugees (in other countries) or were deported to the territory of the Russian Federation. Over 100,000 residents currently remain in Mariupol in the conditions of a humanitarian disaster.