Mariupol will return home soon: local official sees Russians’ readiness for ‘goodwill gesture’

He wrote about this on Telegram.

"Russian occupiers in Mariupol are running out of money. This conclusion is preceded by many factors: delayed salaries for water utility workers and unfinished construction work on the city's improvement. Now there is a problem with financing salaries and holidays for educators," said Andriushchenko and showed a screenshot confirming the delays in payments.

"People are saying among themselves that this is because of the Ukrainian army's counter-offensive," the mayor added.

According to him, many things indicate that 

"Mariupol will return home very soon, and therefore Russia simply does not want to spend money on the territory it will soon lose."

• Mariupol was surrounded on 2 March 2022, when Russian troops approached it from the south and began advancing along the Azov coast. On 16 May 2022, military personnel were withdrawn from Azovstal in Mariupol to the temporarily occupied Novoazovsk and Olenivka, giving Russia full control of the city.