After two months of siege and bombing, Mariupol, destroyed, is almost entirely under Russian control. Only the immense Azovstal steelworks escapes Vladimir Putin, in which the last Ukrainian soldiers are entrenched. Hidden underground, they survive. Food is lacking, water is scarce, as is the hope of seeing daylight once more. Yet they will not surrender. On the surface of the earth, it is their wives who take the light. Together, they travel through Europe, call for help, implore the West to evacuate their husbands so that they don’t end up being sacrificed on the altar of war.
‘If my husband surrenders, all that awaits him is torture and death’
