Steelworks in Mariupol: “These are also people with families”

While many civilians have been able to escape from the besieged Azov Steel Plant in Mariupol, there is little hope of rescue for the fighters. Her family members are begging the world to get her out.

Marina* has to struggle to keep her composure with every sentence, you can clearly hear that on the phone. She is very worried about her husband. He belongs to the army, although he is actually not a soldier. Now he is holding out with the others on the Azovstahl site, she says.

“This is the horror”

Not only her husband is in the plant, but also her younger brother. Out of fear for the two, she only speaks about it under a false name: Marina. She hasn’t spoken to her husband for a long time. She learns about his condition from short messages that the fighters send out from time to time. There is hardly any mobile phone or Internet connection to Mariupol. “It’s only a few chunks,” says Marina. “Then they write that they would hold out, but the situation was extremely difficult. Something like that. They only ever write two or three words.”

At least a sign of life. According to local defenders, there are about 600 wounded in the Azovsteel bunkers. “People die from their pain, from various infections, from sepsis,” says Marina. “It’s not a hospital. There are no antibiotics or any medicines. Nothing is sterile there, it’s very difficult. Because there are many injured people there. There are no anesthetics. Everything hurts, they all just have open wounds. That’s it Horror.”

This week, the military reported that a makeshift field hospital had been buried by an attack. It cannot be independently verified. Recent videos from the plant show plumes of smoke and sheer devastation at the site.

Relatives ask for “extraction procedure”

The Ukrainian government and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally affirm that they are working daily to find a solution for the injured and the soldiers. Militarily, that’s not realistic. One tries on all diplomatic channels. But Russia doesn’t want to let the soldiers out, says Zelensky.

The fighters and their relatives are therefore asking for the so-called extraction procedure. This procedure provides for people to be brought to safety by helicopter or ship. From a third country and via neutral ground. “We’ve already contacted the presidents of Turkey and Israel, and we’ve written to Sweden. Everywhere we can,” says Marina. “We also signed a petition for extraction to take place, because we don’t see any other way out at the moment.”

“We are waiting for them to come back alive”

Russia repeatedly called on the Azovsteel defenders to surrender. The soldiers continue to refuse. They believe certain death awaits them in captivity. Their wives, mothers, daughters and sisters are now campaigning for the rescue – with video calls, interviews and rallies. “There are a lot of us, and we’re all doing what we can,” says Marina. “We pray, but we know that’s not enough. We have to do more.”

So far, around 200 civilians have been brought to safety from Azovstahl. It is unclear if there are others on the site. The separatists assume that there are no more there. Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin indicated that the attack on Azovsteel was free. A nightmare for the Ukrainian military. “These are people, too,” says Marina. “People who have families and children. And we’re waiting for them at home. We’re waiting for them to come back alive.”

The time to achieve this is becoming increasingly scarce.

* Name changed by editors