April 23 – Women and children sheltering inside a huge steel mill in Mariupol, the last retreat of the southern port city’s Ukrainian defenders, said in a video released on Saturday they are desperate to get out and are running out of food .
The video was released by the Azov Battalion, which was set up in 2014 by pro-Ukrainian nationalists, later incorporated as a regiment into the Ukrainian National Guard and has played a prominent role in defending Mariupol.
Reuters could not independently verify where or when the video was filmed. Someone speaking in the video mentions that the date is April 21st.
The video shows soldiers bringing food for civilians who the battalion says are sheltering in the Azovstal complex.
A woman holding a toddler said people at the factory were running out of food: “We really want to go home,” she said.
Russian forces have hit the Azovstal complex with airstrikes and are trying to storm it, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Saturday, although Moscow said this week it would block the plant and not try to take it. According to Ukrainian authorities, more than 1,000 civilians are in the facility, along with troops defending it.
An unnamed boy in the video said he was dying to get out after spending two months at the factory.
“I want to see the sun because it’s dark in here, not like outside. When our homes are rebuilt, we can live in peace. Let Ukraine win, because Ukraine is our homeland,” he said.
The video showed women wearing uniforms with the Azovstal design, which was confirmed by Reuters and matched in file images.
A woman said she had been hiding at the steel mill since February 27, just days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
“We are relatives of the workers. But this seemed like the safest place when we came here when our house came under fire and became uninhabitable,” she said.
Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Mariupol since the early days of the war, leaving a city that normally has a population of more than 400,000 in ruins. A fresh attempt to evacuate civilians failed on Saturday, an adviser to the Mariupol mayor said. Continue reading
Reporting by Reuters Writing by Emma Thomasson Editing by Frances Kerry