Mariupol is now a city with a very high rate of appearance in the world. So what kind of city is Mariupol, where is it located, what are its strategic values, what was the economic and industrial strength before the war, and what is the population? Let's take a look.
Located in southeastern Ukraine, bordering the Sea of Azov, the city has a total area of about 244 square kilometers and is the second largest city in donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. Donetsk Oblast, with a total area of 26,500 square kilometers, has a total population of about 4.2 million, according to pre-war data, of which 90% of the population lives in cities, making it a state with a very high urbanization rate in Ukraine.
The reason why Donetsk Oblast has such a high urbanization rate is mainly because of its abundant resources, strong industrial strength, and many large factories. Donetsk Oblast has the largest Donbass coal plant in Ukraine, as well as the Azov Steel Mill and Ilycha Steel Mill, which have been famous in the Soviet era, and the city of Donetsk, the capital of Donetsk Oblast, is known as a coal city.
The city of Donetsk is located in the northern region of Donetsk Oblast, with a total area of about 381 square kilometers and a population of about 929,000 according to pre-war data. Within donetsk Oblast, Mariupol is second only to the city of Donetsk, the capital of the state, in terms of size, population and economic strength.
The Kalimius River in donetsk Oblast spans the entire territory, a 209-kilometer-long river that flows through the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol before finally flowing into the Sea of Azov. The Sea of Azov is an inland sea in the northern part of the Black Sea, connected to the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait, the west bank of the Sea of Azov is the famous Crimean Peninsula, and Mariupol is located on the north shore of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalimius River, and is a port city.
The Kalimius River is connected to the North Donetsk River, the North Donetsk River flows through the entire territory of the Donbas region, through the North Donetsk River, Kalemiaus River, donbas region coal, and steel and other industrial products, can be transported to Mariupol, and then from the port of Mariupol to the sea, it can be seen that Mariupol is an important port, strategic value is very important.
Because of its extremely important strategic position, as early as the Soviet period, it increased its economic investment in Mariupol, laying a solid industrial foundation for Mariupol, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's economic investment in Mariupol was also relatively large. Therefore, Mariupol has a strong industrial strength, heavy industry and manufacturing are relatively developed, the number of steel plants and machinery manufacturing plants is very large, and many industrial products exported through Mariupol are locally produced.
According to the data, during the Soviet period, the population of Mariupol reached a maximum of 520,000, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the size of the population declined, with a pre-war population of about 449,500, one of the ten most populous cities in Ukraine. In addition, Mariupol is home to the Azov National University of Science and Technology and the Mariupol Humanities University, which provide educational security for the city. The above is the basic situation of Mariupol, which shows that Mariupol is an important port city.