“The enemy is ten times greater than us,” said Sergey Volina, commander of the 36th Marine Brigade, which together with the Azov battalion defends the last Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol, the Azovstal steel plant surrounded by Russians. “We invite all world leaders to help us,” said the commander, who asked other countries to remove the soldiers from Mariupol and bring them to their territory.

According to the commander, who also wrote a letter to Pope Francis earlier, the Russian army has an advantage in all areas: “In the air, in terms of artillery, ground forces, equipment and tanks … the city was destroyed,” he reads. „We only defend one point (Steel Factory, editor)Where, in addition to the army, there are civilians who became victims of this war, ”said Volina.

Wounded rot

In a phone conversation with CNN, Volina explained, “I have a report for the world. It may be my last report as we only have a few days or even hours left.” We invite all world leaders to apply extraction procedures to the soldiers of the Mariupol garrison and to civilians who are here in our factory. We ask that you take us to the territory of a third country and provide us with security.”

These could be helicopters carrying people or an international humanitarian mission that escorts them. The commander especially hopes to help the United States.

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Volina said the situation at the plant was “critical”. “We are completely surrounded. There are about 500 soldiers wounded, and it is very difficult to take care of them. They are literally rotting. There are hundreds of civilians on the property. They also had blasts and explosions on them next to them.”

New alert

Russia issued a new ultimatum to Ukrainian fighters at the steel plant site on Tuesday. They were given until 11 am Dutch time to lay down their arms and surrender, after which they would save their lives. However, the soldiers did not respond to that call and on Tuesday evening the situation around the plant was very unclear.

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On Monday, a plume of smoke rose over the site of the Azovstal steel plant.

The Russian Defense Ministry issued a new ultimatum to the besieged Ukrainian forces in Mariupol. A statement issued Wednesday morning said that Russian forces had opened a humanitarian corridor near the Azovstal plant for Ukrainians to surrender and evacuate civilians. At 10 pm (Moscow time) on April 19, no one has used it yet.” Russia will “once again” offer Ukraine the option to “stop the fighting and lay down their weapons” starting at 2 pm (Moscow time) on Wednesday, April 20.

However, Mariupol police chief Mihilo Vershinin said the terms of ultimatums were unacceptable. “Those who remain at the plant absolutely do not want to go to the Russians, they want to go to Ukraine. That is why we demand a humanitarian corridor to the Ukrainian side.”

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