About 17,000 schoolchildren, including 1,300 first-graders (children aged 6-7), will study in temporarily occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast from 1 September, the first day of the school year.

Source: Mariupol City Council citing Oleg Koltsov, the Moscow-appointed so-called mayor of the city

Details: Koltsov also claimed that many of the students are children of migrants who moved to the occupied city with their families. 

However, compared to the period before the full-scale invasion, the number of students in Mariupol schools has dropped more than twofold, while the number of first-graders has decreased almost three times.

In 2021 almost 40,000 students studied in Mariupol schools, and 3,600 pupils entered first grade.

"The figures presented by the occupiers show that despite their claims, most Mariupol residents left the city and have not returned under occupation. The demographic situation in the city under Russian control remains problematic," Mariupol City Council stated.

Early reports indicate that during Russia’s blockade of Mariupol, the Russians damaged 54 educational institutions (90% of all city schools). Nineteen of them suffered critical damage and nine were completely destroyed.

Background: 

• Earlier, it was reported that the Starokrymske reservoir, Mariupol’s main water source, has almost completely dried up under Russian occupation. In addition to a shortage of water, this threatens the loss of aquatic ecosystems.
• The Russians completed the exterior repairs of the Mariupol Drama Theatre, which they themselves destroyed with a missile.

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