Azovstal

Later in the day, the defence ministry said Russian forces had opened a humanitarian corridor so that Ukrainian troops who agreed to lay down their arms could ...

Ukraine believes more than 20,000 civilians have died there. Later in the day, the defence ministry said Russian forces had opened a humanitarian corridor so that Ukrainian troops who agreed to lay down their arms could leave the embattled city. “The Russian armed forces opened a humanitarian corridor for the withdrawal of Ukrainian military personnel who voluntarily laid down their arms and militants of nationalist formations,” the ministry said, adding the safe corridor was opened at 2pm (11:00 GMT). “All who lay down their arms are guaranteed to remain alive,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that troops would be able to withdraw from the steel plant between 2pm and 4pm Moscow time (11:00-13:00 GMT) “without exception, without any weapons and without ammunition”. Russia says it opened a corridor for Ukrainian forces to leave the steel plant in the southeastern Ukrainian city. Russia’s defence ministry has set another deadline for Ukrainian soldiers in the strategic southeastern city of Mariupol to surrender, saying the lives of the troops inside a steelworks will be spared if they stop what it called “senseless resistance”.

A photographer who documented Mariupol's Soviet-era iron- and steelworks shares insights into the factory set to hold a final showdown between Ukraine's ...

Macha says he believes the smaller Azovstal factory was chosen as the site for the Ukrainian fighters’ final stand because of the “badass bomb shelters” built beneath it. Macha says that while he has become used to the closure and controlled demolitions of metalworks throughout Europe, the current shelling of Azovstal “is wild and absolutely uncontrolled.” Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, is home to two vast metalworking factories.

Russia has called on Ukrainian forces and foreign fighters holed up in the Azovstal metallurgical plant in the port city of Mariupol to lay down their arms ...

It called on troops to withdraw from the steel plant between 2pm and 4pm Moscow time (9pm and 11pm AEST) “without exception, without any weapons and without ammunition”. “All who lay down their arms are guaranteed to remain alive,” the defence ministry said. Russia has called on Ukrainian forces and foreign fighters holed up in the Azovstal metallurgical plant in the port city of Mariupol to lay down their arms within hours if they want to live.

On Tuesday, April 19, the deputy commander of Ukraine's Azov Regiment said that Russian bombardment had destroyed Mariupol's Azovstal plant “almost ...

According to Basurin, the assault on the Azovstal plant was already underway at this point, with support from Russian aviation and artillery (earlier, on April 18, the Telegram channel War Gonzo published a video report from the “newly recaptured positions of neo-Nazi militants” in the plant’s industrial zone). On Monday, April 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russia had begun a “battle for the Donbas,” having focused “a very large part of the entire Russian army” on this offensive. On Tuesday, April 19, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment said that Russian bombardment had destroyed Mariupol’s Azovstal plant “almost completely.” The metalworks plant was serving as a Ukrainian stronghold, where the Azov Regiment and 36th Marine Brigade continued to defend the besieged city.

Major Serhiy Volyna of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, whose soldiers have been holding out in the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works against a Russian force ...

On Tuesday, Volyna described a city “demolished from the face of the earth.” Scores of people lay under the rubble of burned houses and bombed-out buildings. “Everyone is ready to continue as one.” The Soviet-era iron and steel plant, one of the largest metallurgic factories in Europe, stretches over four square miles along the city’s waterfront. Volyna is sleeping two to three hours a night in a wet basement alongside his comrades. “We very much hope that President Biden will hear us and help resolve our situation,” Volyna said. The fighters and civilians inhabit an underground system of tunnels that allows them to protect injured civilians and provide minimal medical care.

Maj. Serhiy Volyna said there were about 500 wounded troops and many civilians with them at the Azovstal steel plant, which has become the last stand for ...

All of them have been trapped here,” he said. That would be the most significant effort in weeks. “We appeal and plead to all world leaders to help us. Some of them require help. Ukrainian officials have said that tens of thousands of people have died in the city, which has been short of food, heat and medicines for weeks, while some have been able to flee. The commander of the last remaining Ukrainian troops holding the besieged city of Mariupol has said that his forces are outnumbered and may only have hours to live.

Russian troops issued a new ultimatum for Ukrainian troops in Mariupol's Azovstal steel mill. Latest Ukraine news.

Both Ukrainian and Russian officials acknowledged Tuesday the war had entered a new phase. “The onslaught and terrible toll on civilians we have seen so far could pale in comparison to the horror that lies ahead. Russian battalions vary in size from about 800 to 1,000 troops. Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Facebook a humanitarian corridor for women, children and older people had been agreed upon. Reuters, citing the Mariupol city council, reports more than 1,000 civilians and Ukrainian troops are in the mill. According to Russian estimates, the plant holds a few thousand Ukrainian troops. Russian bombs threaten to flatten what is left of the plant. Remaining residents in the port city of Mariupol should leave as Russian forces encircle the last pocket of Ukrainian defense inside the Azovstal steel mill, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said Wednesday. Fighting in the eastern towns of Rubizhne and Popasna in the Luhansk region was ongoing Tuesday, regional military administrator Serhiy Haidai said in a report by state news agency Ukriniform. Haidai said stronger shelling and air attacks have occurred along the eastern frontline, but Russian troops were being held in the two towns as of Tuesday. The complex is likely the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged city of Mariupol. Capturing the city is key to Russia's goals, as it would secure a land corridor from Russia to the occupied territory of Crimea. Moscow's attacks on Mariupol are part of its new wartime strategy: pivoting to a heavy offensive in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, parts of which were controlled by Russian-backed forces prior to the invasion. Reuters and the BBC reported there were no signs of Ukrainian forces giving in, and Oleksiy Arestovych, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a social media post Mariupol was being held as fighting continued.