Besieged from the beginning of the war, Mariupol spent 82 days of fierce fighting and only ended the resistance when the forces at the Azovstal factory surrendered.
Isolated from the outside world and lacking in food and ammunition, thousands of soldiers entrenched at the Azovstal steel plant persisted, becoming a symbol of resistance efforts in the southern city of Mariupol. Ukraine. But after 82 days of siege, this fortress fell.
Deputy Defense Minister Ukraine Anna Malyar said on May 17 that 53 wounded soldiers entrenched in the Azovstal factory were taken to a hospital in the town of Novoazovsk, while 211 people moved to the town of Olenivka. Both towns are located in an area run by pro-separatist militias Russia control.
Armored vehicles of pro-Russian forces near the Azovstal plant in Mariupol on April 12. Image: Reuters.
The Russian Defense Ministry later announced that 265 Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal factory had surrendered, of which 51 were seriously injured.
“The Mariupol garrison has fulfilled its combat mission,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement. “The Supreme Military Command has ordered the leaders of the units stationed in Azovstal to save the lives of the soldiers. The defenders of Mariupol are the heroes of our time.”
The city of Mariupol is located along the Azov coast, on the border between the Crimean peninsula and the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. Controlling Mariupol, Russian forces will connect this strategic corridor and completely block Ukraine’s gateway to the Sea of Azov.
With such an important role of Mariupol, the Russian army deployed siege and shelling on the city right after launching a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. The city’s defense force includes Ukrainian naval infantry units and thousands of Azov Battalion fighters. The Azov Battalion was once a far-right militia group, but was later incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard.
By March 2, Russian forces were on all sides of Mariupol, just a few kilometers from the city center. Air strikes and shelling have cut off electricity and water supplies, and Mariupol is also suffering from food shortages, said Deputy Mayor Serhiy Orlov. Satellite images show that most of the civilian structures in the city were destroyed after days of intense bombardment.
On March 9, a 600-bed maternity hospital in Mariupol was attacked, killing three people and injuring 16 others. The dilapidated scene of the hospital shook the world, the image of a pregnant woman covered in blood holding her stomach walking down the dilapidated stairs at the hospital was also shared around the world.
Ukrainian officials accused the Russian Air Force of bombing “totally destroying” the hospital. Russia denied it, insisting it had not carried out airstrikes on civilian targets, and accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out “staged provocations” there.
A pregnant woman in pajamas, with scratches on her face, walks down the partially destroyed stairs in Mariupol hospital after the attack on March 9. Image: AP.
On the evening of March 16, the Mariupol city council posted a picture of a destroyed theater and accused Russian military aircraft of “deliberately” targeting this facility, where hundreds of residents are sheltering.
The Russian Defense Ministry immediately denied the allegation, saying that it was the gunmen of the Azov Battalion who “carried out a provocative act” by “planting mines and blowing up the theater”.
After days of bombing, Russia announced on March 18 that its forces had entered the center of Mariupol. However, the Mariupol defenses put up a fierce resistance, pushing back Russian units in the city center.
After a failed raid attempt, Russian forces tightened the siege around Mariupol and increased their bombardment of targets in the city. Mayor Vadym Boichenko’s office said on March 28 that nearly 5,000 people have died in Mariupol since the siege began, 90% of the structures have been damaged and 40% destroyed. About 170,000 people are still trapped in the city.
On March 31, weeks of relentless shelling reduced Mariupol to rubble. Attempts to negotiate to establish a ceasefire in the city for residents to evacuate failed, with both sides accusing the other of opening fire first.
French President Emmanuel Macron then spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and persuaded Moscow to allow the evacuation of civilians from the city. Putin agreed to the proposal, but stressed that the shelling of the city would only stop when the Ukrainian defenses surrender.
On April 13, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that 1,026 Ukrainian soldiers from the 36th marine brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered. Two days later, Mayor Boichenko said about 120,000 people were still trapped in the city.
From April 18, in the face of overwhelming Russian forces, the Mariupol defensive units were gradually cornered at the Azovstal steel plant, where there was a network of underground tunnels to help them entrench themselves against enemy fire. The city council said about 1,000 civilians were also hiding inside the factory.
As Russian forces slowly advanced into central Mariupol and took control of much of the city, the Azovstal factory became the last defensive bastion for thousands of Ukrainian marines and members of the Azov Battalion.
Russia repeatedly issued ultimatums to the Ukrainian forces in Azovstal to surrender, but the soldiers in the factory vowed not to yield and would fight to the end. Attempts to attack the factory by Russian forces were met with fierce resistance.
During a televised conference on April 21, President Putin ordered his forces not to attack the factory, which he considered impossible. Instead, he instructed the army to blockade Azovstal so that “not even a fly could get through”.
The Azov Battalion released a video showing women and children sheltering in the factory’s underground bunker, saying they were running out of food and water, begging to be evacuated.
Civilians call for help from the underground tunnels of the Azovstal factory. Video: Guardian.
On May 2, the long-awaited evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant took place with the support of the United Nations and the International Red Cross. More than 100 people from Mariupol have reached safety in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
In a video broadcast live from the Azovstal steel mill bunker on May 5, a Ukrainian soldier said the government had “failed” in its efforts to protect Mariupol, but insisted surrender was not an option.
By May 7, all the remaining women, children and elderly people had left the Azovstal factory underground, while the soldiers continued to fight.
Fighting continued for more than a week after that, while the Ukrainian government tried to negotiate with Russia to reach an agreement to remove the wounded from the Azovstal factory.
Invalids and Ukrainian soldiers began to leave the underground bunker on May 17, marking the end of Ukraine’s military operation at the factory.
Ukrainian servicemen sit on a bus after being evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Image: AP.
The last residents to be evacuated from the steel mill told of the terrible days they sheltered here with poor conditions, food and water so little that adults could only eat one small meal a day.
“No one goes out there unchanged. When we leave Mariupol after 82 days of siege, we all turn into completely different people,” said Oksana, an employee at the Azovstal steel plant.
Vu Hoang (According to BBC, Guardian)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
