Siege of Mariupol - Animated Analysis

It’s the early morning of February 24th, 2022. At 4:30 am, two Russian tankers in the Sea of Azov, start moving directly to the city of Mariupol by the shortest path from Yeysk. This atypical behavior is seen on the radar screens in the Coastal Defense Headquarters at Mariupol Airport. There, the officers from multiple units responsible for the Ukrainian coastline come to the conclusion that the Russian Invasion of Ukraine has begun. The orders are given to start mining the waters near the Mariupol seaport. In a few hours, they are proven right as the city is attacked by naval artillery of Russian ships that apparently use tankers as decoys. Simultaneously, Russian cruise missiles, attack aviation, and land artillery start pounding the Ukrainian defenses in the east, giving the official start to the battles for Mariupol. Invaders also specifically target the Coastal Defense Headquarters but failed to inflict significant damage. Still, the operations of the center are halted as most of the servicemen are lost or left in dismay. David Kasatkin, callsign Khimik, lieutenant of the 2nd battalion of the Azov regiment, takes command and restores at least some order to start organizing further defensive measures for Mariupol.

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Credits:
"Scott Buckley - Legionnaire" is under an Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)
/ scottbuckley
Credits:
Music: Wrath by Soundridemusic

Music in the final section: SadSvit - Cassette

[maxwellschmidt]

It's so surreal to watch a documentary about a battle that you watched almost live while it was happening. Thank you for putting this together

[Panzerfan]

your work with all the geolocating and animating of these battles is fantastic! This is some proper documentary work!
Also the massive brass balls of the helicopter pilots cannot be understated

[theangel]

Bro died while defending the street he used to live...

[ticeqq]

As a resident of Mariupol who lived there all my life and left the city on March 16, it was very interesting for me to learn the details of these events on a citywide scale. Thank you for the video!

[falcon]

crazy how russian soldiers with shovels managed to capture mariupol

[spl]

Amazing breakdown of everything! I’ve seen lots of these videos used but had no idea they all came from this area. Thanks for adding context

[varhYT]

An excellent and, personally, long-awaited analysis. I've been wondering about what exactly happened there ever since March 2022, when the siege was only being established. Your videos are excellent at organizing the otherwise scattered and chaotic reports into a clear, compact series of events, localized precisely on the map and put on a well-presented, consistent timeline, making them perhaps the only videos on yt to paint a clear picture of the analyzed battles. No doubts from me about the amount of effort put in.

[marniusvanderlubbe]

Thank you for including that civilian account of the battle at the end. People really need to see that

[shonemumy]

Woow, your analysis and presentation is so "unbiased and pragmatic" it almost feels like Ukraine won that battle.

[vulkn_]

Your videos are one of the best sources to study this horrific war.

[ohaitoto]

I like how the Narrator said Azov was accused without evidence when the evidence is very easy to find. But sure let's omit those facts. Azov are the "good" guys

[romankhamov]

It would've been nice to see a lot of Russian footage, from the perspective of the soldiers. I appreciate the effort and info in the video, but I don't appreciate how one-sided it was.

[Mr.BoulderMan]

Some of the most comprehensive and well visualized videos about war I’ve seen

[RedGaming]

Thank you so much for this. I always wondered what happened in Mariupol. I would have followed events during the siege more closely but I was so distracted by the rest of the war I kinda forgot. Thank you for bringing this pivotal battle to light

[stevenwynn]

The Ukrainian slant to this video is apparent…

[LGUK]

My dude, your dedication to putting these videos out for the public to see is incredible. The time invested in research, source gathering, the details to the minutia in the movement of units on the battlefield is truely amazing.

As someone who has been heavily invested in watching this war since day one I remember seeing all these clips shown, but it was so fast moving that it was difficult to understand where and sometimes what exactly was going on. But you visualise it in such a simple way.

Your work is critical, whilst I completely understand the toll this may be taking on you, please know it is so important. I don't think there is anyone else commiting the effort to collating sources and such into such digestible methods.

If you haven't already the podcast Ukraine War Brief conducted an interview with an Azov Regiment survivor of the Siege and his story is awe inspiring, harrowing and absolutely mind blowing. His description of how he was able to get from his initial base that was at risk of being overrun, breakthrough the encirlement into the steel mill while being ambushed, left behind, assumed dead and with some incredibly grevious injuries is just...I don't know. There are now words that I know.

[guerrasygeopolitica]

This is clearly a one sided report. Thanks for the info but you missed all the strategy from the Russian side. You just show them as approaching guys with no strategy.

[sredojevicfilip]

Listening to you, Ukranainans won this batlle 🤣🤣🤣

[dileriano]

Wow! I am totally impressed by the quality of your videos. Your content is quite unique to be honest. Please keep making such videos.

[WARLOCKIKITCLAW]

As horrible as the war has been, I can't wait for your video on the defense of Bakhmut if you ever going to make one. these videos have been excellent thusfar!