Story by Le Picaro’s special correspondent

Mariupol Special Envoy

“I feel good here. The only drawback is that there are no shops or pharmacies nearby yet. We promise there will be. So we wait, the Russians are patient, you know . . .” Natalia looks out the window of her brand new apartment to the new Nevsky district on the outskirts of Mariupol. In this area, on both sides of the avenue leading to the airport — closed since 2014 — two dozen buildings have sprung up in the past six months, while others are under construction. A dominating view of a city that was wiped off the map last year, it now looks like a huge building site. Work everywhere, workers wearing helmets, mostly from Central Asian countries or Belarus, trucks, mostly Chinese, cranes and earthmoving machines… On the facades of these new six- to nine-story buildings, parts of the walls are painted green or yellow. Bringing a touch of color…