- A brigade of Ukrainian marines fighting in Mariupol said they are running out of ammunition.
- The 36th Brigade said they would “die but fight”, even without food and water supplies.
- They also said that half of their group consisted of a “mountain of wounded”.
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A brigade of Ukrainian marines defending the city of Mariupol said Monday they are running out of ammunition after nearly seven weeks of fighting.
“We defended Mariupol for 47 days. We were bombed by planes, we were fired at by artillery and tanks. We kept up the defense by doing the impossible. But any resource can be exhausted,” the 36th Brigade said in a Facebook post.
The group said they were initially armed with weapons when the conflict began, but have not received additional ammunition since.
“For more than a month, the Marines have fought without replenishment of ammunition, without food, without water,” they wrote. “The mountain of wounded makes up almost half of our squad.”
“The enemy gradually pushed us back. They surrounded us with fire and are now trying to destroy us,” the post reads.
The post noted that surviving brigade members are now defending the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works near the port of Mariupol.
The Marines added that the men, whose limbs were unbroken and “not torn off,” had returned to the ranks to fight. With no infantrymen left, the group said artillerymen, cooks, drivers and even orchestra musicians were involved in gunfire with Russian forces.
“We die but we fight. But that’s coming to an end,” the post reads. “Today will be another extremely difficult fight. Ahead lies death for some, imprisonment for others. Dear Ukrainian people – we ask you to remember the Marines.”
“Don’t badmouth the Marines. We did everything we could, the possible and the impossible. We are forever faithful,” the post added.
The marines’ post came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated that “tens of thousands” of Ukrainians may have died in the Russian attack on Mariupol.
Images captured by photojournalists around the city show the destruction of schools, maternity hospitals and even a movie theater — acts Zelenskyy has described as “war crimes” that will be remembered “for centuries to come.”