Mariupol ultimatum passes as hundreds shelter in steel mill

April 20, 2022

The deadline of a Russian ultimatum demanding the surrender of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol has passed with no sign that the troops have complied.

The final Ukrainian holdouts, reportedly accompanied by 1,000 civilians, have taken shelter in the city's massive Azovstal steel plant.

Moscow's ultimatum comes as the local Ukrainian commander warned his troops can hold out for just "days or hours".

But Kyiv says there is a tentative deal to rescue some civilians from the city.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, wrote on Facebook that women, children and the elderly would be allowed to leave Mariupol under the deal.

The city's mayor, Vadym Boichenko, told national TV that Ukraine hopes to send 90 buses to evacuate about 6,000 people on Wednesday. He said around 100,000 people remain trapped in Mariupol.

The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works - a massive, four sq-mile (10 sq km) plant in the south-east of the city - has become the last center of the Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.

As Russian forces advanced slowly into the heart of Mariupol, the sprawling complex became a home to thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, including fighters from the Azov battalion - a controversial national guard unit with links to the far-right.

The site is a mass of tunnels and workshops, and provides a natural advantage to defenders.

Yan Gagin, an official with the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, told Russian state news network RIA Novosti over the weekend that there is "basically another city" beneath the plant.

Russia has been bombarding the factory with artillery and air raids, and Moscow has issued two demands for the troops to surrender. An advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is targeting the defenders with bunker busters - colossal bombs designed to penetrate thick armor and kill targets underground.

This is the second ultimatum Ukrainian troops at the plant have faced this week. Despite this, and the vicious nature of the Russian siege, Ukraine's defense ministry said not a single soldier surrendered when a similar ultimatum lapsed on Monday.

It is unclear how many Ukrainian troops remain in the city, but in a video message sent to the BBC, the local marine commander Major Serhiy Volyna, said around 500 injured troops were being cared for at the steel plant.

Major Volyna, who leads the 36th marine battalion, said his troops were running low on supplies and that the video marked "our last address to the world. It may be our last one ever".

He said that Russian forces outnumbered his own by "dozens of times," and that while Ukrainian morale remains high, Moscow's forces "prevail in the air, in artillery, in ground troops, and in machines and tanks".

Meanwhile, the deputy mayor of Mariupol warned that basic supplies at the plant have almost run out.

"They have an absolute lack of everything. A lack of water, food, medicines, help, and Russia totally blocks everything, any humanitarian help or evacuation," Serhiy Orlov told the BBC's Newshour programme.

Olena Nikulina's cousin is fighting with Ukrainian forces in Mariupol. She said her last contact with him had been on 8 March when he told her his unit had "very little food and medical supplies - and it's harder and harder to treat wounded soldiers".