The soldiers who remain besieged by Russian troops at the Azovstal steel plant, in the Ukrainian city of Mariupolhave asked to be evacuated following the “extraction” procedure which was used in Dunkirk (France) in 1940, in World War II.
The Operation Dynamoalso known as dunkirk miracle either Dunkirk evacuationIt was an operation of evacuation of allied troops in French territory in the Second World War that allowed thousands of soldiers to be saved.
The call was made by the Commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AUF), Serhiy Volynsky, one of the nearly half a thousand Ukrainian soldiers who remain fenced in the facilities of the Azovstal plant. “We have been fighting with a complete siege for 62 days, now we are at the Azovstalperforming tasks together with units of the Azov regiment and other units that have been surrounded due to hostilities in Mariupol,” Volynsky said in a video message posted on his Facebook page and reported by the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Desperate situation
The commander indicated that at this moment “there are more than 600 wounded men” in his group. “They really need medical help: there are no facilities, no medicine, no staff to help them,” he added. He also highlighted that there injured civilians those who are helping where they can.
“There is more civilians here with us, hundreds of them, dozens of children, there are many people with disabilities, many elderly. The situation is very difficultthere are big problems with water, food…” Volynsky said. He noted that he had already made appeals to world leaders and the Pope to listen to the defenders of Mariupol and apply the procedure of “extraction” and He cited as an example the Operation Dynamo.
“Today is not 1940, it is 2022”
“Today my main message is to save the Mariupol garrison, carry out the extraction procedure for us. It’s not 1940 today, it’s 2022.” He reminded her. “People will just die here. The wounded will die and the living will die in combat, civilians are dying here, along with us in bunkers, private houses and apartment buildings, where they just get shot… So many people have died in the city, the city is practically wiped out of the face of the earth,” he said.
Mariupolwhich initially had a population of almost half a million inhabitants, has been practically devastated by Russian attacks, whose troops assure that they have already achieved control of the entire city, with the exception of the Azovstal steel plant.
The Ukrainian authorities assure that there are still some 120,000 inhabitants without water, electricity or basic products and denounce that Moscow has blocked attempts to bring humanitarian aid to the area. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko has noted that up to 20,000 civilians have been killed. in the city since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Phosphorus bomb attacks
On the other hand, the regiment of Azov -integrated into the Ukrainian army- has denounced that the Russian Army has launched during the night more than 50 air strikes over Mariupol and among the explosives there was “a large amount of phosphorous bombs“. Some 500 members of Azov are surrounded, together with a thousand civilians, in the facilities of the Azovstal steel company.
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The Deputy Commander of the Regiment, Capt. Svyatoslav Palamarasked the authorities in his Telegram account to take decisive measures to lift lockdown of the city or evacuate to residents and advocates. “Last night there was a huge number of bombs of phosphorus: 50 air strikes, missiles, artillery and everything that a barbarian can use against Humanity”, the military man pointed out in statements reproduced by the local newspaper Pravda.
The Ukrainian military has estimated that during the 64 days of the war, Russia has lost $162 million worth of equipment in Mariupol, and that the occupiers have spent $288 million on ammunition and aircraft, according to the military. “I call on the political-military leadership to take forceful actions to lift the blockade or evacuate all those who hope and believe in the Homeland. Today I will say that not only Mariupol is Ukraine, but Ukraine is Mariupol“, Palamar has maintained.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.