It’s a desperate plea from a Ukrainian soldier posted on Facebook on Wednesday. “We may be living our last days, even our last hours,” said this besieged officer in Mariupol, urging the international community to proceed with their “extraction.”
“The enemy outnumbers us ten times,” said Serguiy Volyna, a commander of the national navy’s 36th brigade, which is entrenched in the vast Azovstal steel complex in Mariupol, southeast Ukraine. We are calling on all world leaders and asking them to help us. We ask them to use the extraction process and take us to the territory of a third country, he added.
Russia calls for an end to ‘senseless resistance’
According to Commander Volyna, the Russian army “has advantages in air, artillery, ground forces, equipment and tanks.” “We defend only one point – the Azovstal factory – where, in addition to soldiers, there are also civilians who have become victims of this war,” he continued.
For its part, Russia on Tuesday urged the last defenders of the city of Mariupol to end their “pointless resistance” and promised to “save the lives” of Ukrainian militants holed up in the Azovstal complex if they surrender.