Azovstal: the story of a heroic siege that became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance

Special envoy to Azovstal

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“Heroiam slava! (“Glory to the heroes!”)” These two words, which the Ukrainians at war pronounce without always paying attention to them, have taken on a new gravity.

On the 86th day of the dantesque siege imposed on the city of Mariupol, the chief of the Azov regiment announced on Friday that he had received the order from the military high command to lay down his arms.

This announcement marks the end of a fierce resistance that surprised the world and won the admiration of an entire people.

Surrounded, subjected to an incessant deluge of artillery and air strikes, a few thousand men entrenched in an industrial complex transformed into a fortress resisted step by step despite the overwhelming superiority of the enemy.

Arrived at the end of their strength and without prospect of being freed by arms,

they had been asking for two weeks to be removed from this cauldron.

Mariupol, the great port city, is now in the hands of the Russian army.

This asserts that

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