Ukrainian troops in Mariupol have vowed never to surrender to Russian forces that are pummelling their last redoubt in the ruined city, the Azovstal steelworks, as Kyiv said Moscow wanted to seize control of the site before a major military parade on Red Square on Monday.
Several hundred Mariupol residents were evacuated from Azovstal over the last week, but Ukrainian fighters who have defended the vast complex since Russia invaded the country 10 weeks ago say other civilians may still be hiding in its maze of bunkers and tunnels. Some 500 injured soldiers, most from the Azov regiment, are also thought to be in the factory.
“We will continue to fight as long as we live, to repel the Russian occupiers,” Capt Sviatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of Azov, said on a video call from the besieged factory on Sunday.
‘Intense fire’
“The Azovstal plant is now under intense fire. Last night alone, we counted more than 25 [aerial] sorties, including by three strategic bombers. [Russian] artillery is firing, tanks, mortars; infantry are trying to storm us, there are snipers and so on,” he added.
Another Azov fighter, Ilya Samoilenko, said: “Nobody expected that we would hold out for so long and we’re still holding out…We are basically dead men. Most of us know this. It’s why we fight so fearlessly.
“All this time, we knew that the Azov regiment had little chance of survival. It is impermissible for us to be taken captive or to surrender. We cannot give such a big gift to the enemy,” he added.
Capt Palamar said it was not clear “whether [all civilians] were evacuated, because no international organisation or government body or politicians came here to Azovstal, and there is no special equipment to remove debris” that could be trapping people.
The Azov unit has also appealed to Kyiv and its western allies to find a way to take wounded soldiers from the factory. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said “we are now preparing the second stage of the evacuation mission – the wounded and medics…Of course, we are also working to evacuate our military. All the heroes who defend Mariupol.”
Priority target
Russia has made Mariupol a priority target because it would complete a land corridor from its own border, through occupied south-eastern Ukraine, to Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. The Kremlin also portrays Azov as a rogue neo-Nazi militia.
“The enemy is trying to finish off the defenders of Azovstal, they are trying to do it before May 9th to give [Russian president] Vladimir Putin a gift,” said Oleksiy Arestovych, a senior aide to Mr Zelenskiy.
Mr Putin is expected to give a speech and oversee a military parade through Red Square on Monday to mark the Victory Day holiday, when Russia celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany.
It has particular significance this year during an invasion that Russia says is intended to “denazify” Ukraine, and amid speculation that Mr Putin might officially declare war on the pro-western democracy or announce mass mobilisation to boost the ranks of his army, which is believed to have suffered significant losses on the battlefield.
