Mariupol’s exiled leaders look to the future with plans to rebuild

Exclusive: Ukrainian mayor says there is no time to waste in drawing up vision for devastated city, which is under Russian control

A tram glides pasts cyclists and pedestrians making their way along green and pleasant streets. A submerged diver swims in clear waters by an underwater research centre while families enjoy a picnic at the nearby beach, gazing over at the yachts in the distance as they enjoy the afternoon sun.

It is a vision of a thoroughly modern coastal city, but two strangely familiar images in the bundle of architectural drawings hint at the identity of this place and its dark and troubling recent past: there is the “Memory Centre Dram”, an amphitheatre overlooked by a towering steel and glass structure in the shape of what was Mariupol’s elegant drama theatre, and then, on the following page, an industrial works given over to nature, now described as the Azovstal memorial park.