The Russian occupation authorities in Mariupol have added around 25,000 apartments and houses to their lists of so-called "ownerless" property which they plan to transfer to municipal ownership. The property owners have been given until 1 July 2026 to prove their right to their homes.
Source: an investigation by Novyny Donbasu (Donbas News), which analysed and compared lists of "ownerless" property from the occupation "administration's" website, social media posts, and data from the legitimate city council
Details: The occupation authorities introduced the term "ownerless housing" in 2023, when they began to post lists of apartments they claimed were unowned in the entrances to apartment buildings. The journalists say that between summer 2023 and April 2026 over 45,000 addresses appeared on such lists; after eliminating duplicates, more than 24,000 separate properties remain.
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Before the occupation, Mariupol had 2,249 apartment buildings containing 135,176 apartments and 37,252 houses. The occupation authorities have thus declared around 15% of the city's housing stock to be "ownerless", though the actual percentage is higher because some of the buildings have been destroyed by Russian forces and a further 452 buildings, according to the occupation authorities, have been demolished.
