Azovstal steelworks: Russians trying to block exit from bunkers - mayor's adviser
IRYNA BALACHUK - MONDAY, 16 MAY 2022, 09:33
Russian troops continue to try to enter the bunkers of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol where Ukrainian defenders are holding their ground and to block exits from them..
Source: Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, on Telegram
Quote from Andryushchenko: "Mariupol. Azovstal. Main issue. The Russians have not stopped trying to enter or block the exit from the bunkers. Most of their ground operations are conducted around the perimeter of the plant. There is no overall approach, which is why the density of shelling is increasing."
Details: He also called the information spread by the "DNR" [Donetsk People''s Republic - ed.] militants that 10 Azov servicemen had allegedly surrendered and been taken prisoner as "more fake news".
"If you 'trust' the occupiers' sources, they have already taken everyone captive in Mariupol three times over," Andryushchenko concluded.
Background:
- On 15 May, Pyotr Andryushchenko, adviser to Mariupol city mayor, reported that the Russian military had used either incendiary shells or phosphorus bombs against defenders at the Azovstal works.
- Mariupol was blockaded by Russian troops almost at the beginning of the war on 1 March. Since the end of April, Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol have been blockaded at the Azovstal plant: they are members of the Azov National Guard regiment, Marines, border guards and police officers.
- Civilians have been evacuated from the plant, but all options for evacuating the fighters have been rejected by Russia, although Turkey is ready to remove them by sea and guarantee that they will not take part in hostilities in Ukraine until the end of the war.
About 600 wounded remain in the underground bunkers of the Azovstal plant, which is being stormed by the Russian military, in unsanitary conditions, without medicine, water and food. Ukrainian authorities are negotiating to evacuate at least 60 of the most critically injured.
