maj. Serhii Volyna, commander of Ukraine’s 36th Separate Naval Brigade, spoke by phone to DailyExpertNews on Tuesday evening from the besieged city of Mariupol and asked a third country to ensure the evacuation of troops and civilians trapped in the Azovstal steel plant under heavy Russian bombing.
“I have a statement to the world,” Volyna said. “It may be my last statement, because we only have a few days or even hours left. We call on the world leaders to apply the extraction procedure to the army of the Mariupol garrison, to the civilians who are here with us his factory. We ask you to take us to the territory of a third country and provide us with security.”
Ukrainian troops in the besieged city have gathered around the massive Azovstal steel plant.
Ukrainian officials have said hundreds of civilians are hiding in the basements of the massive steel plant. A Mariupol police officer told DailyExpertNews that heavy bombing is dwindling food and water supplies.
When asked how an evacuation can be facilitated, Volyna said: “This should be at the level of the agreements. If we talk about practical application, it could be, for example, a ship with helicopters that can pick us up. Or an international humanitarian mission who can come to us and guarantee our safety and accompany us on the way to the state that will make such commitments.”
Volyna described the situation at the factory as “critical”, with a large number of wounded troops and limited medical care.
“We are completely surrounded,” he said. “There are about 500 wounded soldiers, it is very difficult to provide them with medical care. They are literally rotting away. There are civilians in the territory. They also suffer from explosions, detonations on them, next to them. [the Russians] use heavy aerial bombs against us and fire with artillery.”
“This happens all the time. The city is being destroyed. There are dozens of times more enemy groups than us. They have a complete advantage in air, artillery, equipment, manpower. We fight to the last, but we have very little time left” , he said. continued.
The Ukrainian commander estimated that “hundreds of civilians” were hiding in the factory’s territory.
“We appeal to absolutely all world leaders: who will be able to make such commitments, who will manage to agree on such a procedure in the short term,” he said. “We know that there are some developments and are in talks with the Turkish side that it guarantees. Probably the United States, because we believe that this is a very powerful state with a strong leader, [President Joe] Biden, and that he can personally solve this problem in the shortest possible time. Or this problem can be solved in a short time with his help.”
Volyna declined to comment on the number of soldiers holding out in Azovstal.
“If the world hears us, if the world leaders hear us, we very much hope so, and the extraction procedure will be carried out, then everyone will understand the quantitative composition of the people who were in captivity,” he said.