in the basement of the bombed Azovstal factory

Since Friday, May 20, the Russian army has taken control of the steel plant Azovstal in Mariupol (Ukraine). In the presence of a team of Russian journalists, separatist soldiers enter the factory, in which 2,400 Ukrainian fighters have lived in entrenchment for 40 days. On the ground, cartridges allowed the soldiers to find their way. The factory, which extends over 11 km², is as large as the 15th arrondissement of Paris.

Weapons and ammunition abandoned by the Ukrainians are recovered by pro-Russian soldiers. “They destroyed all their equipment: phones, computers, tablets so that we could not recover any information“, testifies a soldier, who shows the basements in which the Ukrainian fighters were hidden. They surrendered on the orders of their hierarchy. They are considered prisoners of war by Russia, and hope to be exchanged for Russian prisoners.