from the editors
Surrounded by the Russian army, barricaded in the Azovstal Steelworks: the latest testimonies of the marines of the 36th Brigade, who together with the Azov Battalion are resisting in the besieged city. An English volunteer: “We surrender to the Russians”
What is happening in Mariupol? The Ukrainian city has been bombed nonstop for weeks and besieged by the Russian military, who are just a step away from capturing it. The last remaining groups of Ukrainian soldiers are barricaded in the Azovstal Steel Plant: the 36th Brigade and the Azov Battalion. For days there have been reports difficult to confirm that they are now without ammunition and unable to break the siege to save themselves. Time could therefore be running out for the Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol. In the last few hours, some dramatic testimonies have leaked out of the city, such as that of a British volunteer fighting with the Ukrainian army in the city, Aidin Aslin. “We surrender to the Russians. We’re out of food, out of ammunition. We have no other choice,” the soldier said on the phone with his mother, according to reports from the BBC.
Aslin, a native of Newark, has been fighting in Ukraine since 2018 and became a Marine in the Kyiv Armed Forces. For the past few weeks, his unit has been fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol. “He called me and told me they were out of guns to fight,” his mother, Ang Wood, told the BBC. Brennan Philips, a friend of Aslin’s, also spoke to him on the phone. The soldier told him that his unit was now without food and without ammunition. “You can’t go out. You can’t fight,” Philips said. Consequently, surrender is a must: “I’m sure if they had had one last bullet, they would have fired it.”
Other testimonies from soldiers are also arriving from Mariupol at the same time. Among other things, the Twitter account Euromaidan Press, which published a socalled “farewell video” to the 36th Brigade, relaunched them. Euromaidan Press cites 1+1 TV journalist Anastasya Nagorna as a source, according to which the videos were shot on the night of April 1112 and sent to her by marines stationed in Mariupol.
The footage shows several Ukrainian marines gathered in a room. “They say they are loyal to Ukraine to the end,” the video’s caption reads, “but no ammunition was sent to them.” They demand to be able to finish the job and fight for victory».
April 12, 2022 (Change April 12, 2022 | 20:00)
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