MARIUPOL, July 14. /TASS/. The bulk of houses in Mariupol should be restored by 2024, city mayor Konstantin Ivashchenko told TASS.

We have "an enormous amount to do," he said, when asked how the work has been progressing and whether the rubble has been cleared. "There is still rubble, the machines have been working for at least 10 hours per day now, so have been the people," the mayor said in an interview.

"I think we will restore the bulk of the residential space in 18 months, by 2024. And, I guess, a city development plan, a master plan [for the period] until 2035, will be adopted this year," Ivashchenko said.

The Mariupol mayor also said he had proposed involving prisoners of war in the work to restore the city, but "that was not allowed under international conventions."