After the freelance journalists who recorded the Mariupol siege left the Western media, the Ukrainian Azov Battalion sought to fill that void.
A new video published by the Ukrainian “Azov” battalion shows the suffering of civilians holed up in the Azovstal factory in the city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, overlooking the Sea of Azov.
With mobile phones, electricity and the internet almost completely cut off, Azov’s videos offer what may be some of the only glimpses of life in this factory.
The speakers explained in the video that they are facing a severe shortage of supplies inside the steel plant.
“It’s not a matter of days, it’s a matter of hours. Mariupol is hell, Azovstal is worse than hell,” Mariupol mayor Vadim Boychenko said at a press conference on Friday, expressing the severe shortage of supplies.
Russia sees the control of the coastal city of Mariupol as a decisive factor in achieving its goal of securing a land bridge linking the Crimea (south) with the Donbass region (east), which it seeks to control.
“We are shooting these videos to draw attention to the fact that they (civilians) are in the factory, so that the enemy does not say that there are no civilians here, and to highlight the need to evacuate them,” the deputy commander of the Azov battalion stationed at the factory, Captain Svyatoslav Ballamar, told the newspaper.
The video shows a child wearing makeshift diapers made of tape and plastic bags, sleeping in a damp and moldy room. A woman with a bandage on her head, wearing a jacket that was worn by steel factory workers, is also seen trembling.
“We want to go home, we want to see the sun,” children say in the video.
It is noteworthy that since April 18, the Azov battalion has released several videos focusing on the lives of civilians trapped inside the factory, most of them appearing women and children.
“I want everyone who is watching this video to help us create this safe passage, to help us leave safely alive from civilians and soldiers,” said a mother holding her young child in a video posted on April 24, when Ukraine was celebrating Orthodox Easter. “.
Ukrainian fighters are clinging to their last strongholds in Mariupol, after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the biggest battle of the war, saying last Thursday that the port city had been “liberated” after weeks of constant bombardment.
Putin ordered his forces to surround the factory where Ukrainians are holed up, who had refused a previous ultimatum to surrender or die.
The Azov Battalion was created in May 2014, named for the sea on which Mariupol and its devastated port lie, to defend the city when it was attacked by pro-Moscow forces. At the time, it was known for its nationalist and far-right members, whom the Kremlin used to justify its military campaign as “anti-fascist” targets.
Controversy still surrounds this group, and although it still includes among its elements a number of nationalists, analysts say that the unit, now called the Azov Regiment, has evolved since its integration into the regular combat forces of the Ukrainian army.