The Azovstal iron and steel plant, one of Europe’s largest metallurgical plants, has become an aptly revealing challenge to Ukrainian forces surpassing arms, numerically, and surrounded seven weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. East of the southern port, which has been devastated by weeks of bombing, the plant is located in an industrial area overlooking the Sea of Azov and covers more than 11 square kilometers (4.25 square miles), containing myriad buildings, blast furnaces and railways. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “The Azovstal plant is a huge area with so many buildings that the Russians … just can not find (Ukrainian forces),” said Oleh Zhdanov, a Kyiv-based military analyst. “That’s why (the Russians) started talking about the attempted chemical attack, this is the only way to get rid of them,” Zdanov said. Ukraine has said it is checking unconfirmed reports that Russia may have used chemical weapons in Mariupol. Russian-backed separatists have denied using chemical weapons. read more In peacetime, Azovstal iron and steel mills pumped 4 million tonnes of steel a year, 3.5 million tonnes of hot metal and 1.2 million tonnes of rolled steel. Like the city’s other Illich Steel and Iron Works, Azovstal is held by Metinvest, the team controlled by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man. A Russian separatist deputy commander told Russian state television on Monday that Moscow had occupied 80 percent of the port, but that resistance had continued and that Ukrainian forces had all tried to “get out of the Azovstal plant”. He described the factory as “a fortress in a city”. The city’s defenders include Ukrainian Marines, motorized brigades, a National Guard brigade and the Azov Regiment, a militia created by far-right nationalists that was later incorporated into the National Guard. It is Azov’s constitution, the destruction of which is among Moscow’s war targets, widely linked to Azovstal, and one of its founders, Andriy Biletsky, has also called it “Azov’s fortress”. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the invasion a “special operation” to “demilitarize and demilitarize Ukraine,” but Ukraine and the West say Russia has launched an unprovoked offensive war. “Azov is actually located in the territory of Azovstal … These are huge territories with laboratories that can not be destroyed by air, which is why the Russians use heavy bombs,” said Sergi Zgurets, a military analyst. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 soldiers from Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in Mariupol, although Ukraine had not confirmed this. Ukraine’s presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych later said that members of the 36th Marine Brigade had managed to drill into a “highly dangerous maneuver” to join the Azov Regiment. “The 36th Brigade avoided breaking into pieces and now has serious additional opportunities, essentially getting a second chance,” he said. The lack of mobile telephony and internet in the city means that information is scarce. Ukraine has maintained tight control over things like the number of troops that could jeopardize its defense. Azov’s Biletskiy told Ukraine’s NV news site on March 20 that Ukraine had a total of 3,000 fighters defending the city against up to 14,000 Russians. DIFFICULT TO OCCUPY Private US satellite company Maxar was able to watch the raging space battles on Tuesday. “Smoke and fires were reported coming from a number of buildings in the western and eastern parts of the city, as well as in and near the Azovstal ironworks – the site of ongoing fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces,” he said. An EU security source told Reuters that it was difficult to say how much the Ukrainians could handle and that it was also difficult for Russia to occupy the entire city because of the industrial complexes. “There are underground tunnel systems under the steelworks.” “Mariupol is very important for Putin because after a victory there (and the surrender of the Azov troops) he can claim that the ‘de-nationalization’ process is successful,” the source added. An aide to the mayor of Mariupol said on Wednesday that Russia planned to celebrate the victory in the city on May 9, the date Moscow marks victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with an annual parade in Red Square. Zdanov, the military analyst, said he saw little chance of Ukrainian forces from abroad breaking the siege of Russia. “How much equipment the defenders have and how long they can hold is a guess. But they have no other way out. They are surrounded on all sides, they have to stand until the end. If they retreat, you will not escape,” he said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Natalia Zinets. Additional references by Pavel Polityuk. curated by Grant McCool Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
