Russian president Vladimir Putin has bestowed the title “City of Military Glory” upon Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city in the Donetsk Region (still under Russian occupation), and Melitopol, another occupied city in Zaporizhzhia. The decree has been published on the Russian government's official legal portal.
“For courage, resilience, and mass heroism demonstrated by the city's defenders in the battle for our Homeland's freedom and independence, the city of Mariupol is to be awarded the honorary title of the Russian Federation ‘City of Military Glory’.”
The decree on bestowing the title “City of Military Glory” upon Melitopol features the same language.
In April, the Mariupol City Council cited reports from locals, who had witnessed Russian troops begin the exhumation of bodies buried in residential areas while prohibiting the burial of exhumed remains. No one knows what they did with the bodies. In November, Maxar published satellite images of a mass burial site outside Mariupol; according to BBC, over 1,500 graves could have been dug at the site.
