Mariupol, formerly (1948–89) Zhdanov, city, southeastern Ukraine. It lies along the estuary of the Kalmius and Kalchik rivers, 6 miles (10 km) from the Sea of Azov. The city was founded in 1778 as Pavlovsk, on the site of a former Cossack encampment. It was renamed Mariupol in 1779 to honour Maria Fyodorovna, the second wife of Crown Prince Paul. In 1780 the city’s population grew rapidly after a large number of Greeks from the Crimean Peninsula were resettled there. In 1882 it was connected by rail to the Donets Basin and developed as a major port for the region.
About two-thirds of Ukraine’s population of 44 million people lived in cities before Russia’s invasion began. Now many urban areas are in the cross hairs of war.