Intense fighting is taking place at the Azovstal plant, according to Mariupol mayor Vadim Boitchenko, who says he has lost contact with Ukrainian fighters and civilians buried there for several weeks.
Thirty children who have not yet been evacuated from the Azovstal industrial complex were among the civilians who took refuge there, the mayor added, during an intervention on Ukrainian television.
Russia’s offensive at the Azovstal plant began on Tuesday and was then confirmed by both Ukrainian and Russian authorities. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vadim Astafiev justified the aircraft and artillery strikes by saying Ukrainian fighters took advantage of a ceasefire to set up new firing positions.
On Wednesday, however, the Kremlin denied that Russian forces had launched an attack on Azovstal steelworks.
The command has already been given [le 21 avril] to the public by the Commander-in-Chief [Vladimir Poutine] to stop any attack. No attack so far, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that forces from Moscow had besieged the site and were only interfering with stop attempts very quickly of Ukrainian fighters to join shooting positions.
On April 21, while announcing that Mariupol had been occupied by the Russian army, Vladimir Putin said that the attack on Azovstal would bring too much value to the lives of Russian soldiers. Instead, he ordered the area to be besieged, for no flies to pass.
The Azovstal plant was the last Ukrainian bastion in Mariupol, a port city besieged by the Russian army for several weeks. Ukrainian authorities estimate that 2,000 fighters are resisting and more than 200 civilians are still sheltering in the vast network of these underground galleries, which are difficult to attack or destroy by bombing.
More than a hundred people have been evacuated in recent days and found refuge in Zaporizhia, a town located more than 200 km west of Mariupol and controlled by Ukrainian forces.
Source: Radio-Canada
