The last Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine, have been ordered from Kyiv to ‘stop defending the city’, one of the commanders said in a video message on Friday .
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“The higher military command gave the order to save the lives of the servicemen of our garrison and to stop defending the city,” said Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov regiment, one of the Ukrainian units present in the steelworks.
Last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in this city, this huge metallurgical complex with its maze of underground galleries dug in Soviet times was the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in this port city on the Sea of Azov, massively bombarded by the Russians.
After the recent evacuation of civilians including women and children from Azovstal, 1,908 Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in the bowels of the steel plant, including the wounded, have since Monday surrendered to Russian forces, said the Russian Minister of Defense.
“We managed to save the civilians, the seriously injured received the necessary help, we managed to evacuate them for a later exchange,” said Mr. Prokopenko.
“Processes are continuing” to evacuate the bodies of killed soldiers, he added. “I hope that soon the families and all of Ukraine will be able to bury their fighters with honors. Glory to Ukraine,” he concluded.
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