what is happening at the Azovstal factory, the last refuge of Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol?

A name, a factory and a symbol. Azovstal, one of the largest metallurgical complexes in Europe, is now the last island of resistance in Mariupol, this city in south-eastern Ukraine which the Russian military claimed, Thursday, April 21, to have taken control after weeks of bombings. Inside the gigantic industrial site are entrenched 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers who do not plan to surrender their arms, but also “about 1,000 civilians, women and children”. Franceinfo takes stock of this industrial site whose fall would allow the Kremlin to definitively make the connection between Crimea, annexed in 2014, and Donbass, where the Russian army is currently concentrating its forces.

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what is the factory Azovstal ?

It is a gigantic metallurgical plant, one of the largest in Europe, which extends over 12 square kilometers. The complex ist so large that it is visible from all sides of the port city of Mariupol. Opened in 1933, Azovstal is now owned by the Metinvest group, run by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.

In 2020, the factory employed 10,700 people. Before the start of the war, 5.7 million tonnes of iron, 6.2 million tonnes of steel and 4.7 million tonnes of rolled products were produced there annually, reports the company’s website. “Marioupol grew around the metallurgical complex to house the tens of thousands of families of factory workers, reports Mediapart. It almost adjoins another huge metallurgical site, the Illitch combine, practically destroyed at the beginning of April. These two sets of factories occupy almost a third of the area of ​​the city.

“Azovstal and Illich were the economic heart of Mariupol, testifies to franceinfo Armineh, originally from the city, now a refugee in France. Almost every family had at least one employee in these factories. I myself worked for Azovstal for three or four years as a translator. The whole city lived to the rhythm of these factories. Maybe later I will find information about many of the acquaintances who were there.“

What is the situation inside and around the factory?

The Ukrainian and Russian authorities seem to agree on the figure: around 2,000 Ukrainian fighters have taken refuge in this factory in recent weeks. They are mostly members of the Azov battalion, this paramilitary group which takes its name from the Sea of ​​Azov, and which is now part of the institutionalized Ukrainian forces. Alongside them, members of the 36th marine brigade which retreated here after defending the city. Finally, “foreign mercenaries” would also be present, says the Russian army. Among the Ukrainian soldiers, “500 would be injured”, wrote Thursday Iryna Verechchukthe Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, on Telegram.

Facing them, hundreds of Russian soldiers surround the complex. SOn BFMTV, Sergiy Taruta, Ukrainian deputy and former employee of Azovstal, put forward the figure of 14,000 Russian soldiers. The Kremlin did not give details.

Are there also civilians?

Yes. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in addition to the military, “about a thousand civilians, women and children” and “hundreds of wounded” took refuge in this factory. On Monday, Azov battalion commander Denis Prokopenko appealed for help by broadcasting a video in which testify women and children who say they have been living in these shelters for weeks.

‼️Звернення командира полку “Азов” підполковника Дениса Прокопенко до світолівиівих pic.twitter.com/3TAr9lOfVW

— АЗОВ (@Polk_Azov) April 18, 2022

In an interview at Washington Post), the commander of the 36th Brigade of the Ukrainian National Navy told that the site is today isolated from the rest of the world and everyone trying to survive with the resources available. “We save water, we support each other, we help each other as much as possibledetailed Serguiy Volyna. Dn the basement, people are languishing. There are no drugs.” LThe deputy mayor of Mariupol is also worried. “They lack everythingassures the BBC (article in English) Sergei Orlov. They lack water, food, medicine, help. And Russia is blocking everything, all humanitarian aid and evacuations.”

This is not the first time that the undergrounds of Azovstal serve as shelters. Already in 2014, when pro-Russian separatists launched an assault on Mariupol, residents of the city hid there. “Since then, we have kept these bunkers in good condition, there is water and food to last three weeks.“, explain to New York Times (article in English), one of the spokespersons of the Metinvest group. According to her, full stocks can last three weeks with 4,000 people inside.

What is the military situation?

Vladimir Putin assured Thursday that his soldiers had taken control of Mariupol. But in the end, there was no question of storming the Azovstal factory. “I order to cancel ithe said Thursday during a meeting with his Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, broadcast on Russian television. We must think (…) to the life and health of our soldiers and officers, we must not enter these catacombs and crawl underground.”

“Block off this whole area so that not a fly gets through.”

Vladimir Poutine

on Russian television

“The strategy of the Russian army is very simple, decrypts for franceinfo Carole Grimaud-Potter, specialist in Russia and lecturer in geopolitics. VSis the seat: ‘We’re outside, they’re inside, we’re waiting’.”

Because entering the Azovstal site is not so simple. It is made up of sprawling tunnels which, in normal times, supply material and ore to the various production sites. These dungeons complicate the Russian attack. “How do you imagine the industrial zone? It’s a city within the city, and there are several underground levels dating from the Soviet period. It’s not possible to bomb from above, you have to clean underground. That will take time”, admitted at the end of March Eduard Basurin, the representative of the pro-Russian separatist forces in Donetsk. Some sources thus evoke more than 20 kilometers of corridors in the basements, up to 30 meters deep.

For Russian forces, entry into the tunnels is “impossible”, confirmed Alexander Grinberg, an analyst at the Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy (JISS). They “may try to do it, but they will be slaughtered because the tunnel defenders have the absolute tactical advantage”. Even a “nuclear attack” could not destroy the place, estimated on Russian television Yan Gagin, a Russian adviser in the separatist region of Donetsk, reports the Telegraph (article in English).

What would the capture of this vast factory change for the Russian army?

The total capture of this site, and more generally of the city of Mariupol, would allow Russian soldiers to “the complete junction between the Donbass, where they are now massed, and the Crimea which the Kremlin annexed in 2014”, Explain Carole Grimaud-Potter. This immense corridor would then be “entirely to their advantage”. “It would allow them to move better, to bring equipment, troops between the Russian border in the east and up to the town of Kershon.” Lin the Sea of ​​Azov, in fact, “would become Russian”.

On Thursday, the master of the Kremlin also once again called on the Ukrainian fighters to surrender, promising them that they would have “life saves” and that they would be “treated with dignity”. But the proposal was rejected: “We will fight until the last drop of our blood”, promised the Ukrainian commander.