نعيم قاسم: إمكانات «حزب الله» بخير وسنهجر أضعاف مستوطني الشمال
Mariupol fighters ‘dying underground’ at steel plant, commander says
“While the world is asleep, in Mariupol, the guys are dying,” Volyna said. “They’re suffering losses. They’re being bombed with heavy bombs … torn up by artillery, and they’re dying underground — the wounded and the living there.”
His comments came as another deadline set by the Kremlin — for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender by 2 p.m. local time (7 a.m. Eastern) Wednesday or face a bitter end — expired. Previous deadlines issued by Moscow were also refused.
Volnya had told The Washington Post earlier on Tuesday that his fighters did not believe Moscow’s promises of safe passage out and would not lay down their arms. He added that more than 500 forces were wounded and that civilians were also sheltering inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant under a barrage of fire.
The sprawling industrial facility’s underground network of tunnels have provided cover for the Ukrainian fighters in the strategic coastal city, including from the far-right Azov regiment.
Russian forces moved into Mariupol and cornered fighters in their last foothold after an assault that pummeled the city and a siege that choked off vital supplies. Taking full control of Mariupol would expand the grip of Russian forces along the Sea of Azov coast and help form a land bridge from the border to the Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
As the Russian deadline expired Wednesday, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Oleksiy Arestovych, maintained that fighting still raged around the steel plant.
“Mariupol is holding on. Fighting is underway in the vicinity of the Azovstal plant and a few other districts,” he said. He added that Ukrainian forces were battling to repel an escalating Russian offensive in the east along multiple fronts.
Ukrainian officials had said on Wednesday morning that they hoped to try to evacuate people from Mariupol but described the plans as preliminary. Street fighting and shelling have thwarted other attempts at shuttling people out and prevented a Red Cross team from reaching Mariupol to help civilians out in recent weeks.
While many were evacuated from the city, which had a prewar population of more than 400,000, Ukrainian officials have estimated that nearly 100,000 people remain inside. Residents who managed to flee told of being trapped in basements with little food or water, while contacting those left behind grew difficult.
“This could be our last message,” Volyna, the Ukrainian commander, said in an earlier video. “We might only have a few days or even hours remaining.”
Francis reported from London. Annabelle Chapman contributed to this report.