(Archyde.com) – Russian forces tried to storm the Ukrainian-controlled Azovstal steel plant complex on Sunday in the besieged southeastern city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said, despite President Vladimir Putin’s comments last week that the complex was no longer needed.
The command of the Ukrainian armed forces wrote on Facebook that Russian forces were carrying out “offensive operations” in the Azovstal region, as well as carrying out air strikes on civilian infrastructure.
In an interview with an opposition deputy posted on YouTube on Sunday, Serhiy Volina, commander of the 36th Brigade of Ukrainian Marines in Mariupol, said that Russia is targeting the complex with air and artillery bombardments.
Speaking from his factory location, he added, “We are receiving casualties and the situation is critical… We have many wounded, (some of them) are dying, it is a difficult (situation) in terms of guns, ammunition, food and medicine… The situation is rapidly deteriorating.”
Konstantin Ivashenko, a Russian-appointed mayor of Mariupol but not recognized by Ukraine, denied there had been any fighting in the city, in comments quoted by the Russian news agency TASS on Sunday.
Archyde.com was not able to independently verify the Ukrainian or Russian accounts.
The Azovstal steel plant is the main stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in the southeastern port of Mariupol, which has been bombed since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Oleksiy Aristovich wrote on Facebook that “Russian forces are trying to eliminate the defenders of Azovstal and more than a thousand civilians are hiding in the factory.”
Russian forces surrounded the factory in early March and gradually took control of most of the city.
Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” aimed at “disarming” and “eliminating Nazism” in Ukraine.
Subsequently, Aristovich said in a video speech broadcast by the president’s office that Ukraine is offering Russia a “special” round of negotiations that will be held in Mariupol to discuss the fate of the Ukrainian civilians and forces that are still stuck in the city.
Aristovich added that the negotiations would aim for an immediate ceasefire in Mariupol, the opening of humanitarian corridors “for days” and the release or exchange of Ukrainian fighters trapped in the Azovstal plant.
Russian forces surrounded the factory in early March and gradually took control of most of the city.
Last Thursday, Putin announced the “liberation” of Mariupol and publicly demanded that his defense minister cancel the storming of the Azovstal plant in order to save the lives of Russian soldiers.