The Ukrainian army has announced that the fighting continues in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol (southeast) where Russia “is trying to annihilate” the last defenders of the site, even if it has announced a ceasefire unilateral from Thursday morning.
“The Russian occupiers are busy blocking and trying to destroy Ukrainian units on the territory of Azovstal,” the Ukrainian army said in a statement Thursday morning.
According to her, the Moscow troops have “resumed the offensive with the support of aircraft to take control of the factory”.
The statement comes as Moscow announced on Wednesday evening that its forces would cease fire for three consecutive days, starting Thursday at 8 a.m. (local time), to allow the evacuation of the civilians still present in Azovstal, who would still be 200, according to the mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boitchenko.
Denys Prokopenko, the commander of the Azov regiment which is leading the defense of the site, for his part indicated in a video released Wednesday evening that Russian forces had managed to enter the steelworks where “violent and bloody fighting” was underway.
“For two days, the enemy has managed to enter the premises of the factory,” he said in this video posted on Telegram.
“I am proud of my soldiers who make superhuman efforts to resist the onslaught of the enemy. I am grateful to the whole world for the colossal support given to the Mariupol garrison. Our soldiers deserve it,” he adds.
The Azovstal steelworks, a huge steel complex criss-crossed by underground networks, is the last pocket of resistance by Ukrainian fighters against the Russian army which has besieged this strategic port since the beginning of March. His surrender or capture would be an important victory for Moscow.
Mayor Vadim Boitchenko also called on Thursday for the continuation of evacuations of the city, carried out with the help of the United Nations and the Red Cross. “We are fighting together to save every person, every resident of Mariupol,” he said.
Elsewhere in the country, the fighting continued, especially in the east where Moscow is continuing its offensive. According to the governor of the Donetsk region, 25 civilians were injured in a strike that hit a residential area in Kramatorsk overnight.
The Russian army, for its part, said it had targeted a Ukrainian command post and two military warehouses on the city’s airfield.