The drama continues in the Azovstal factory in Mariupol.
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The situation is still locked in the steel factory Azovstal in Mariupol.
Russia’s promises of humanitarian corridors and Tuesday’s summit between President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have so far failed to materialize.
Around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers are standing inside the steelworks, and up to 1,000 civilians – including several children – will be hiding in the underground tunnels under the giant factory.
Also read: The battle for the steelworks
– 600 wounded soldiers
Now the situation will be precarious for the people who have lived in hiding from the war for weeks. Some have been there since Russia invaded Mariupol on February 24, others arrived in early March when their apartments became uninhabitable after rocket attacks.
– 600 wounded soldiers in serious condition, without medication, and under unhygienic conditions. Hundreds of civilians, including many children and people with disabilities underground. Food and water will soon run out, says a report by Serhiy Volljna, an officer in Ukraine’s 36th Naval Brigade, which is being shared Twitter.
A video of the navy commander going around the world last week, begging the world for help:
The Ukrainian paramilitary Azov battalion has several fighters inside the steelworks, and shares propaganda on its Telegram channel. The group has been linked to neo-Nazism and right-wing extremism.
In a post on Tuesday, Azov shares several photos of what will be a kind of temporary field hospital down in the tunnels under the steelworks. The photos show young men lying close together on camp beds with bandaged arms and legs. Their faces are slippery.
«Constant artillery, lack of necessary medicines, surgical equipment and even clean water. Wounds rot, and there is nothing to do with it», Azov writes in the post.
On Monday, Russian forces are said to have carried out 35 rocket attacks in Donetsk, where Mariupol is located, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.
This is what the steelworks looks like from above:
Putin: – Acts as IS
UN chief Guterres has described the situation in Mariupol as “a crisis within a crisis”.
When he met Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, he once again asked Russia to create humanitarian corridors out of the besieged city so that the remaining civilians could flee.
Putin, for his part, claimed that the military operation in Mariupol was over. The president described the situation in the port city as “tragic” and “complicated”, and reiterated a statement that Russia has made several times recently:
That Ukrainian forces are hiding behind civilians inside the Azovstal steelworks in the city, that is, that they should use innocent people as human shields, and prevent them from leaving the factory.
In a video shared by the Azov Battalion, the children talk about life under the steelworks:
Putin compares the Ukrainian military in Mariupol to the terrorist organization IS.
– We hear that there are civilians at Azovstal, but then the Ukrainian military should release them – otherwise they are terrorists who act as IS, the president said according to the news agency RIA Novosti.
Russia will have contact with those left in the steel plant, Putin has stated.
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