Ukraine War: Pictures from the besieged steelworks in Mariupol

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Arm amputated: fighters in the catacombs of the Mariupol Steelworks

Photo: Dmytro 'Orest' Kozatskyi / AP

Young men with amputated limbs, exhausted looks, bloodied military uniforms.

The images from the besieged Azov Steel Plant in Mariupol, released by the Azov regiment, tell the story of the fierce struggle for the last bastion of the port city.

The Azov steel compound has been under constant fire from Moscow's troops for weeks.

If the steel mill falls, Mariupol will be completely under Russian control.

Ukrainian soldiers, including fighters from the Azov regiment, have not yet given up.

They are the last people still inside and below the industrial site.

Soldiers and civilians were trapped inside the steelworks for weeks after it was surrounded by Moscow's troops.

Now only the fighters are left.

The images show severely wounded Ukrainian soldiers who were apparently treated in dark operating room niches.

Some of them had to have body parts such as arms or legs amputated.

Others have wounds on their faces.

Most appear to have been injured by explosions.

After the successful evacuation of the last civilians, the government in Kyiv also wants to free seriously injured soldiers from the industrial complex.

"We are now preparing the second stage of the evacuation mission, the wounded and doctors," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week.

However, Moscow has repeatedly announced that it intends to capture the Ukrainian fighters – even if they surrender.

"Surrender is not an option for us because Russia has no interest in our lives," said Illya Samoylenko of the Azov regiment last Sunday at an online press conference from inside the plant.

Nevertheless, the officer asked the international community for help: "We need the support of the whole world."

The images that have now been released come from the nationalist-dominated Azov regiment.

DER SPIEGEL is currently unable to independently check the images.

However, they agree with the information and the media reports about the general situation in the steel mill.

col/dpa