Ukraine ends Mariupol battle and evacuates fighters from Azovstal steelworks
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol and its network of underground tunnels served for weeks as shelter and last refuge for some 1,000 Ukrainian fighters, many of them from the Azov Regiment, one of the most skilled military units and the most controversial in Ukraine.
Mariupol officials said in mid-April that up to 1,000 civilians were also hiding in the underground network. They were trapped for weeks amid an intense Russian assault, before all women, children and the elderly were evacuated earlier this month. Those who managed to get to safety described the brutality of the long siege in the cold and fetid bunker, where they lived without sunlight and with dwindling supplies of food and water.
The Russian bombardment of the Azovstal factory seems to have persisted in recent days. Videos posted on Telegram by local officials over the weekend showed hot white munitions raining down on the plant. The type of ammunition could not be independently verified, but a British military expert told Reuters it looked like an attack with phosphorus or incendiary weapons.
Ukrainian officials reached a ceasefire agreement with the Russian military on Monday, with dozens of buses leaving the factory. The complex evacuation is coordinated with the assistance of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said 53 seriously injured soldiers had been taken to a hospital in Novoazovsk, a nearby town controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Another 211 were transported to another Russian-aligned village, Olenivka, she said. Moscow and kyiv negotiate an exchange of prisoners to secure their release.
Malyar said officials are still working to rescue the remaining soldiers, although it is unclear how many are still inside. Ukrainian authorities said last week that there were nearly 1,000 resistance fighters at the plant.
One of the bloodiest clashes of the war, the Battle of Mariupol captured worldwide attention. Russia devastated the southeastern Black Sea city, which had a rapidly growing population of around 450,000 before the invasion. Early on, forces from Moscow surrounded Mariupol, cut it off from water and electricity, and bombarded it incessantly, reducing much of the city to rubble.
The loss of Mariupol is a major setback for Kyiv. It allows Russia to establish a vital land bridge between Crimea, the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and Russian-held territories in eastern Ukraine.
But Ukrainian military leaders said their troops in the city held off the Russians long enough to buy crucial time for forces fighting elsewhere. And Western officials have noted that with the exception of Mariupol, Russia has failed to make any significant gains in eastern Ukraine despite concentrating its resources there for weeks.
“We have had the necessary time to build up reserves, consolidate forces and get help from partners,” Ukraine’s military command said in a Monday update.
“The defenders of Mariupol are heroes of our time… They are forever in history.”
Adam Taylor, Niha Masih and Louisa Loveluck contributed to this report.