For more than two months, Iryna Yegorchenko prayed for her son Artiom, one of the Ukrainian soldiers defending the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, the last stronghold of resistance besieged by Russian forces, to escape the war unscathed.

But yesterday, the news of his death came like lightning.

Devastated, Iryna also says she feels a kind of relief: at least her 22-year-old son won’t be captured by the Russians. Like many of his colleagues, he will not suffer from hunger or the wounds of war.

“I was suddenly relieved. It’s easier to know that your child is dead than to know that he is a prisoner, injured or starving,” explains the 43-year-old Kiev woman on the phone.

When all civilians are evacuated in the wake of the United Nations and Red Cross mission, at the Azovstal steelworks only the fighters are ensconced in a maze of endless galleries and Soviet-era bunkers.

On the surface, the Russians control almost the entire port city on the Sea of ​​Azov.

Artiom, a tough-looking young man and boxing fan, took refuge in the steel mill in early March. He spent 74 days abroad with Telegram and Instagram as the only means of communication.

‘At least he didn’t suffer’

“They weren’t allowed to call. Sometimes I just wrote a ‘+’ when I asked if I was alive,” said psychologist Iryna, who has a 20-year-old daughter and two more sons. 9 and 6 years old

Artiom always claimed to be good. However, the mother says she has noticed that she is more honest with her friends. “He wrote to them that his days are numbered, he cannot escape,” she said without holding back tears.

In the accounts, he said that every day some of his colleagues died and Russian tanks managed to break into the industrial complex.

The soldier last spoke to his mother on May 7. He was not in touch until May 11, when he received a message: his son died in a cinder block collapse.

“At least he didn’t suffer. Everything happened so quickly. He is with God,” he consoles himself by saying.

His concern now is the fate of other soldiers imprisoned in Azovstal, seriously injured or at risk of being captured.

desperate calls

After weeks of fierce fighting, Azovstal-based soldiers, including members of the Azov battalion, are intensifying their desperate calls for help on social media.

This week, one of the group’s commanders, Serguei Volyna, described the living conditions at the steel mill as “inhumane”. “Every minute a new life is lost,” he said.

This week he called for “urgent” assistance to Pope Francis, Western leaders and even billionaire Elon Musk. The demands are repeated by the families of the soldiers.

“My son is in Azovstal hell,” said Yevguen Sukharikov, the father of a member of the Azov battalion yesterday, and fears that there will be a “massacre” if the soldiers do not withdraw.

“Either we take risks (to save them) or the whole world watches their deaths,” said Sukharikov.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said yesterday that withdrawal talks with Moscow have failed.

The political leader, who expects the soldiers in serious condition to be removed in at least one operation, said, “They only offer to surrender. Our young people will not accept to lay down their arms.”

The city of Mariupol and the steelworks Azovstal became symbols of the resistance of the Ukrainian troops against the Russian invaders. And for Iryna Yegorchenko, the death of her son defending the country is a source of pride.

“He lived a good life, he kept his own life. He earned a place in heaven,” said the mother.

Iryna doesn’t know if she can get her body back after the fight. But she doesn’t want to see her son in the coffin.

“It hurts physically to know you’re not with us. I want to see what your future would be like, what my grandchildren would look like if this war hadn’t started,” she complains.