Bombardments and fighting continue in this city besieged by Russian forces. On the Ukrainian side, the soldiers of the Azov regiment are on the front line.
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In front of the classic obstacle course, a few meters from the shooting range which was installed in the dilapidated building of a former factory in kyiv, Maxim Jorin recounts the resistance in the city of Mariupol. He is second in command for several battalions. His unit is the Azov regiment, a group initially paramilitary, created at the time of the Donbass war by an ultra-nationalist leader who still uses SS insignia from the Das Reich division today.
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Azov’s men have been part of the Ukrainian army since 2014 and they fight in Mariupol, surrounded by Russian forces. Maxim Jorin says he still has contacts… thanks to Elon Musk. “It’s easier now with the help of Elon Musk and the Starlink satellites. We have Starlink in Mariupol and that’s how we have an internet connection that we can use with Messenger. We also have these secret military lines of communication that work and can be used”.
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Maxim Jorin does not give information about the state in which the battalion is in Mariupol. But he explains that he is under a permanent threat. “It is certain that travel is impossible in the city.”
“You can only advance with hidden passages that you have to build or you have to run very fast from one position to another. Because they shoot everyone, from the sea, the sky or the land .”
Maxim Jorin, member of the Azov regimentfranceinfo
Maxim Jorin supports the idea of a humanitarian operation in Mariupol to evacuate civilians from the besieged city. Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday March 25 that it would take place “in the next few days, with the support of Greece and Turkey. But Maxime Jorin believes that the success of this operation depends on a ceasefire. “You can’t do an effective evacuation because the people who are underground or under the debris can’t get out under the shelling. And because you can’t tell them about the evacuation. First, you would have to stabilize the situation and that the Russians cease all offensive operations”.
Before the invasion, the Azov regiment had 1,000 soldiers in Mariupol. They fight alongside other Ukrainian units. During the Donbass war they recaptured the city from the separatists.