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MARIUPOL IN PHOTOS: How the battle-scarred city has changed after six months under Russian control
These images were taken six months apart, in summer and in winter, and show efforts to restore the Azov sea pearl
It's now over seven months since Mariupol – the second largest city of the Donetsk People's Republic – was liberated from Ukrainian forces, which included the neo-Nazi Azov Regiment. The city has become one of the symbols of Russia's military campaign, and victory there has arguably been the main triumph, so far.
Since the fighting ended, locals have tried to return to peaceful life in the now Russian city. Photojournalist Arseniy Kotov visited twice – in the summer and winter of 2022. His photographs reflect its most recent history and its ongoing reconstruction, which is one of Moscow's top priorities.
I first visited Mariupol in the summer. To get there, I had to hitchhike. The driver dropped me off at Shevchenko Boulevard, one of the city's central streets – named after the iconic Ukrainian poet. The nearest building, which was on a hill, towered above all the surroundings. To get a better view, I walked upstairs and went out on the balcony of an apartment that was missing doors and hds damaged walls. From there, I had a pretty good view of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, now known around the world because of the combat there.
A view of the Azovstal plant from a 16-story building on Shevchenko Boulevard
© RT / Arseniy Kotov, special report for RT
I walked to the city's west side and met a 30-something man and woman roaming around a collapsed nine-story apartment building. They were well dressed, in a trendy way, but were collecting trash in the ruins. They asked me not to photograph them.
The ruins of an apartment building on Kuprina street
The city was full of graffiti scribbled after the arrival of Russian troops. Some of the inscriptions demonstrated the locals' attitude towards the Kiev authorities or other pressing issues, while others were directly related to issues of survival. "People live here" was one of the most frequent inscriptions. It was meant to protect the lives of residents from grenades thrown by the army when clearing the area.
Photo captions: Inscription on a local garage: "Shame on Ukraine," inscription on the gates of a house: "People and children live here," inscriptions on a house on Metallurgov Prospect: "No war," "Alina and Lera are sexy."
By June, most streets were clean of waste. But burned-out cars were still stacked in the yards and traces of former battles were evident throughout the city.
Burned cars in the yard of an apartment building located at 123 Mira Prospect
Just a short walk from these ruins is the city's central square. It used to be called Lenin Square and had a monument to the founder of the Soviet Union in the center. Following the 2014 coup in Ukraine, the monument was taken down and it became known as Freedom Square. In June 2022, the original name was restored, but the monument hadn't been replaced yet.
Sculptures of doves on Lenin Square (formerly Freedom Square)
The local Drama Theater is located nearby. During the raging battles in the city, the Azov neo-Nazi regiment promised to "evacuate" local residents to this theater. The building was also used as a bomb shelter. On March 16, full of people, it was blown up, allegedly by Ukrainian nationalists. The exact number of victims remains unknown to this day.
The destroyed Drama Theater
On the outskirts of the city, you can see the everyday working life of one the largest port cities on the Azov Sea. On April 13, last year, joint Russian and Donetsk People's Republic forces liberated the seaport of Mariupol. All hostages, both in the facility and aboard the ships, were freed. The port itself wasn't severely damaged and is currently used for transporting cargo.
The Mariupol port
For the past eight years, this railway station has housed abandoned electric trains, which used to connect Mariupol with the regional center, Donetsk. In 2022, the carriages were destroyed due to intense battles.
"Mariupol" railway station
Last June, the city still looked abandoned, but people had already started gathering at beaches. Mine explosions still occurred on the Left Bank beach, but that didn't stop the locals from enjoying themselves by the sea.
A city beach in Mariupol
Tram Depot No.2 at the entrance to Mariupol was wrecked during battles. On March 2, 2022, the vehicles stopped operating. The reconstruction of certain routes is currently being discussed.
The tram depot in Mariupol
Like a major part of the Left Bank district, Victory Prospect was severely affected by the fighting. In the summer, this part of the city seemed nearly extinct.
Houses on Victory Prospect
The closer we get to Azovstal, the greater the damage. This house stands just a few blocks from the site of the plant. The buildings here have been damaged but can still be repaired. Blocks of houses to the north have already been demolished.
An apartment building on Voinov-Osvoboditeliy street
A whole section of this building collapsed due to shelling or an aerial bomb, with a small remaining panel at the top forming a sort of arch. It was taken down by November.
The house with the "arch"
This photo, taken in the summer, shows the damage to the Left Bank district close to the Azovstal plant. By the fall, when I returned here, most of the ruined buildings had been demolished. A new residential district will be built at the site.
Sunset over Mariupol's Left Bank district
In June, explosions could be heard everywhere. The fighting had stopped, but the site of the plant, as well as many other parts of the city, were still mined. Sappers were working throughout the city.
Demining in progress at the site of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant
Azovstal Iron and Steel Works is a huge metallurgical plant that had been in operation since 1933. Its site extends over 11 square kilometers (4 square miles). The plant has 41 shops, 80 large facilities, and six giant blast furnaces. It was severely damaged during the siege. In the spring of 2022, Azovstal was occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the Azov neo-Nazis. The battle lasted from March 18 to May 17.
Similar damage can be found throughout the area. According to the current plan of city development, the plant will be demolished, and a park will be built on the site. However, the demolition process hasn't started yet.
Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant
The city's covered market was badly damaged during the fighting. The dome was hit by several shells and the working area riddled with shrapnel. When passing through the structure in the summer, people had to ward off a huge pack of stray dogs. Once fed by the merchants, they now looked thin and starving.
The dome of the market in Mariupol
In the summer, a large part of the city still had no water, gas, or electricity. Local residents, who decided to stay, received aid from the Russian Armed Forces, volunteers, and humanitarian aid organizations.
A local resident cooks breakfast on the balcony of a building hit by shells
In December 2022, Mariupol resembled a huge construction site. Construction workers from all over Russia and even other former Soviet republics are rebuilding the city.
Construction work in an apartment building on Shevchenko Boulevard
A large part of Shevchenko Boulevard remained untouched. As a result, it's now the most bustling part of the city. The market here is booming. Since supermarkets and all major stores have been robbed and destroyed, locals now flock there to buy all sorts of goods: from technical appliances to fruits and vegetables from nearby villages.
The market on Shevchenko Boulevard
Many buildings at the further end of Metallurgov Prospect avoided major damage. The few that were affected are being repaired by construction workers from Russia.
A building being repaired on Metallurgov Prospec
Specialists have been evaluating all the buildings in Mariupol and deciding whether they can be reconstructed. Where possible, the damage will be repaired. The remaining strictures are being demolished.
Construction work at the site of a residential building on Arkhip Kuindzhi street
Brick buildings are easier to fix up than so-called panel buildings, made of concrete blocks. When a panel is damaged, it must be removed and replaced with either bricks or a new panel. But in the case of brick buildings, holes from shelling can be quickly mended with bricks.
Reconstruction of a building on Mira Prospect
Even fully intact buildings will be subject to capital repair. Roofs, pipes, radiators, and windows will be replaced in most of them. Costs will be covered by the Russian government.
A new roof being installed in the city's 17th microdistrict
Almost all of the administrative and residential buildings in the central district were damaged during combat, including churches and chapels.
The chapel of the Priazovsk State Technical University in Mariupol
Most of the demolition work is carried out with excavators, manipulators, and other construction equipment. Panel buildings are demolished quickly – it takes about a week to tear down a nine-story building.
The demolition of ruined multi-story apartment buildings on Arkhip Kuindzhi street
The boiler house (its pipes are visible in the foreground) was launched in the fall, just in time for the heating season. In the beginning of December, construction workers also replaced the roofs of nearby buildings.
Five-story residential buildings on Bakhchivandzhi street
These houses in Mariupol were among the first to be reconstructed. By December, a large part of the interior work was done, windows were replaced and the exterior renovation was nearly complete.
The exemplary 24th microdistrict
A mobile cafe chain called "Mariupol Is Russia and That's It" [a play on the name of the Russian fast-food chain "Tasty and That's It"] appeared on the streets of the city last fall. I haven't tried it yet, but the cafe is popular with locals and workers.
Mobile café "Mariupol Is Russia, and That's It"


Regardless of which side of the debate you sit on, the United States government shutdown is terrible for government workers who are being stood down or are working without pay. This includes those critical to the safety of air passengers, such as airport security workers and air traffic controllers.
The irony of it all would be hilarious if it weren't so serious.
Scroll down below to see the actual, tangible ways that the shutdown is affecting the safety of Americans and let us know what you think in the comments.


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Not long ago, I read Judy Melinek's Working Stiff, the true story of her time as a medical examiner in New York City. In 2001.
As you can imagine, the book is full of the kind of not-for-the-squeamish gritty realism you'd expect from any pathologist's memoirs, with the added horrors of handling the victims of 9/11. But the story in the book that shocked me the most, the one that has haunted me ever since, was not particularly graphic or gruesome, and had nothing to do with 9/11.
In investigating the death of a surgical patient, Melinek and the others on the investigating committee discovered that the surgeon--a highly placed and well-respected doctor from a sterling institution--had never learned to tie a proper surgical knot. How had he advanced so far in his career without learning this most elementary of surgical skills? Inside how many other patients had he left what Melinek called "granny knots?"
Fortunately, most writers can't cause such dire consequences by failing to master the basics of our own craft. (Unless we're writing certain kinds of instruction manuals, I suppose.) But "back to basics" is a great motto generally, I find. For meditation: back to the basics of breathing in and out. For writing: find a character and a conflict. For a to-do list that's too long: pick the first thing, and do one at a time.
In writing and life, it's easy to get lost in the weeds, to try to bluff our way through what we don't know, to take on more and more before we're ready. It's okay--sometimes necessary--to return to Step 1, to focus on a solid foundation, to keep it simple.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


At the beginning of the epic siege of Sebastopol in 1854, Russian defenders blocked the entrance to the harbor by sinking several lines of older sailing ships at the mouth of the bay. One year later, as the Czar's forces abandoned the town, the remainder of the Black Sea Fleet, along with a number of transports and merchant vessels, were also scuttled. All told, nearly a hundred ships carpeted the bottom of the bay when British, French and Turkish forces occupied the port. English engineers pronounced the job of raising the hulks an impossibility, and were content to let them rot–a slow process that would ensure the strategic port remained unusable for years to come. But the Russians had a plan, one that involved a young American who, only a few years before, had managed another salvage project deemed "impossible by human means" by "professional" European divers.
This is the never-before-told story of the five-year salvage of the Imperial Fleet from the Harbor of Sebastopol by John E. Gowen, a self-taught salvor from Lynn, Massachusetts, whose unique approach to technology, to dealing with the repeated "burstings and breakings" of the project, present an alternative to our own modern perceptions of progress and innovation.


Good design is rarely easy.
Neither is explaining to family and friends what I do for a living. In short, I make web sites and mobile apps easier for people to use.
I also occasionally dabble in logo design, and illustration.
Columbus, Ohio is where I currently reside, and that won't change anytime soon. It's a city full of endeavors, artists, and inspiration.


If you are interested in going: It's at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. Ticketmaster sells orchestra and loge seats for $90, mezzanine (2nd level) seats for $75, and balcony (3rd level) seats for $45 or $60. There are still quite a few good orchestra seats left for this particular show (8pm on 24th), but it won't be long until they are gone, so grab them fast while they last.
I'll be in Vegas that weekend for my girlfriend's 21st birthday.


Motorbike accident claims has been set up by personal injury solicitors to provide expert information on making claims in Ireland.
Whatever the individual circumstances of your accident were the most important thing you can do is to have your injuries examined fully by a medical doctor either at hospital or your local surgery.
After tending to your injuries you should remember that you claim is unique and it is advisable to discuss it with a specialist solicitor at the earliest opportunity.
The fact that you are looking for the best way to handle your injury claim means that we can offer you the perfect solution.
Talk to us now by calling our free phone line on (available 8am to 10pm, 7-Days), or filling in our call back form below.


The Conference "Approaches of the European Union and Russia to Transnational Security Challenges" is organized by the Faculty of law of Lobachevsky University (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) in the framework of the Jean Monnet EUSECU-POLE Project and the Jean Monnet Module EUGLOBE supported by the European Union on 24-26 May 2018.
A series of consecutive plenary sessions and a round table will give an opportunity to discuss various approaches to core transnational security issues faced by the European Union and Russia: terrorism, human trafficking, "illegal" migration, radicalization, cybercrime, etc. Particular attention will be paid to opportunities for sharing experience and best practices between Russia and the EU to counter cross-border security challenges.
The Round table will focus on issues pertaining to conducting research on and teaching of European and international law at a university level. Participants will be invited to discuss key issues in this field, to analyze prospects for studying and disciplinary development of European law in Russia, its relationship with other branches of law and other social sciences, as well as mechanisms and ways of creating and strengthening interdisciplinary links and research networks for overall development of European studies in Russia.
← Международная научно-практическая конференция «Подходы Европейского Союза и России к трансграничным угрозам безопасности», 24-26 мая 2018 года.


I used an existing baby gown to get my estimated desired length of the gown. Here is a photo of the gown I used as a base pattern next to my onesie and all of my supplies.
Since my onesie was a size 3-6 months, I decided to make it a little bit longer than the 0-3 month gown that I already had on hand. The gown on hand was 22 inches long, from top of the shoulder seams to the bottom hem. I decided to make mine 23 inches long.
Take a water soluble pen and mark where you will connect your fabric to your gown. I like to do this on front and back. I measured my onesie and determined that I wanted about 5.5 inches from shoulder top to where my fabric would lay. This is really your personal choice as to where you want your waistband to be. Anywhere from 1-3 inches below the armpit of the onesie is just fine.
When you mark your line, make sure to mark on the front and the back! I always double check to ensure that they line up on the side seams for a nice straight line.
Next you will want to cut your fabric bottom. The best way to gauge the width of the fabric cut is to stretch your onesie and measure how wide it will go. This onesie stretched to about 15 inches wide, so I made a fabric cut about 14.5 inches wide. To get your length of your fabric piece, simply subtract your shoulder to drawn line amount (5.5 inches in this case) from the overall desired length. I then ADD 1 inch back into that to allow for the bottom hem with elastic. If you are doing an open gown or a "skirt" onesie, you won't need to add back on the 1 inch.
There is the fabric piece and the onesie- pretty simple up to this point!
The next step is to sew the back seam of your gown fabric. I didn't want to use my serger for this seam, so I sewed a french seam. That is a seam where you sew the fabric wrong sides together first, THEN you trim and sew it right sides together. It makes a wonderfully cased seam that has NO threads sticking out.
I serged the top and the bottom of the gown fabric. Then, I pressed the onesie in half to get a marker as to where the back seam should line up. I also pressed the gown fabric so that I had two pressed side marks where the gown should match up to the side seams of the onesie.
I pinned the gown back to the center back of the onesie and then matched up the side seams. Because the top of the gown fabric was serged and it was going to be covered by ribbon, I sewed the fabric as it would show on the gown. You can also sew them right sides together and press the gown fabric down after. It is your choice.
To sew the gown fabric to the onesie, I then slid the onsise up over my free arm of my machine. I then stretched the onesie to fit the gown fabric and stitched a straight seam, about 3/8 of an inch seam allowance down.
It was now time to put my ribbon casing on the gown. I heat sealed both ends of the ribbon and then pinned it at the start point (the center back seam) I eyeballed the placement of the ribbon- the goal was to have half of the gown fabric covered and half of the onesie fabric covered. Again, I stretched the onesie to make the ribbon sew flush against the knit fabric.
When it came time to overlap the ribbon, I stopped just short of that seam. I then sewed the bottom casing. About 1 inch of ribbon was left "free" for overlap, and also allowed me to insert my elastic into the casing.
I then fed my elastic through this casing- again, depending on the SIZE of the onesie, your elastic may be longer or shorter. It is your choice.
I overlapped the elastic by about an inch, and then zigzag stitched the elastic so it was nice and flat. This helps it to lay neatly in the waistband casing.
I then finished the ribbon overlap and stitched the top, bottom and the side to seal off the casing. This also helps to hold the elastic in place.
For the hem, I simply ironed up a half inch casing for the elastic and stitched it- leaving about 1 inch open to feed the elastic through. Overlap the elastic at the bottom the same way you to the waistband elastic and zig zag stitch. For a different look you can use bias tape to create an elastic casing about 1.5 inches up from a finished bottom- it will give the appearance of ruffles on the bottom.
Sew your bottom casing shut when you're finished zig zagging the elastic and that is it! Your gown is now complete!
All in all, an easy 30 -60 minute project that is a wonderful gift for that new baby!
The instructions were very well done . I am excited about making some of these for my new granddaughter and I plan to make a similar dress for her big sister. For that I will use a Tshirt with the matching fabric.
Thanks!! I've also used knit tank tops to make tank dresses- it works well, and you can use elastic thread in your bobbin to shirr the cotton skirt to the knit top.. it turns out really cute and is a quick project.
How would u determine yardage for fabric for larger onesies.
Hi Jean! I apologize for the delay in my response. For the yardage of the gown, you can adjust as needed width wise by allowing a 4 to 1 ratio or even a little more if you want- for instance, I will place my onesie on the selvedge, and make the piece of fabric 4 times as wide as that onesie…. if you want a lot of gathers I would say 6 times as wide. I hope this helps with different sizes!
Wonderful tutorial! Been looking for one for a few months, and this one finally makes sense! Thanks!
I'm so excited to try this! First grand was a darling boy and he's been so much fun to shop for. But I'm SSSOOO ready to "Get Girly" with this one due in May! Your instructions are so easy to follow and the pictures help as well.
Congrats on the upcoming arrival of your Girly Grand in May! I've been having a blast making things for my little girl, who arrived in NOV – including LOTS of big bows!
I'm going to try this this weekend. Thanks for much for the great tutorial!
Very nice! I have foster babies and love making special clothes for these precious babies all the time.
After the ruffled skirt is all sewn, how do you attach it g to the onesie without the onesie getting all twisted?


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Q: Unable to Decode BLE payload Im trying to decode the following BLE message that my app receives from a piece of hardware

Here is both my Codable Stuct and also where I am trying to decode the message, But it keeps dropping into the else statement and is unable to decode the payload.
struct AccelerometerData: Codable {
    let timestamp: UInt64
    let x: Int8
    let y: Int8
    let z: Int8
}

    if let value = characteristic.value {
        if let accelerometerData = try? decoder.decode(AccelerometerData.self, from: value) {
            print("accelerometer data is: \(accelerometerData)")
        } else {
            print("Some error when decoding the data")
        }
    }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange