This is the moment Ukrainian soldiers repel an attempt to breach part of the Azovstal plant – where freedom fighters continue to mount resistance after a “traitor” gave away their secrets.
The footage was filmed at the Azovstal iron and steel plant in the under-siege Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Russian troops stormed the city on April 19 and destroyed large areas. However, pockets of organised resistance fighters remain at the plant, refusing to surrender to the invaders’ demands.
Fighters of the Azov Battalion, a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, are currently holed up in the battered Mariupol plant.
The Ukrainian soldiers had to fend off a Russian attempt to breach their system of tunnels after a “traitor” gave away their top secrets.
The Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communications said on May 12: “New video of the Battle for Azovstal: Defenders of Mariupol continue the heroic struggle.
“Yesterday, the enemy did not shy away from an attempt to storm the grounds. Our main goal is to block the exits of the system of underground tunnels, which the enemy was shown by a traitor.
“Despite this, our Defenders of Mariupol are trying to counterattack, risking everything,” said Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor.”
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 78th day of the campaign.
From 24th February to 12th May, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 26,650 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,195 tanks, 2,873 armoured fighting vehicles, 534 artillery systems, 191 multiple launch rocket systems, 87 anti-aircraft systems, 199 warplanes, 161 helicopters, 2,019 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 398 unmanned aerial vehicles, 41 units of special equipment and 94 cruise missiles.
This week, Vladimir Putin addressed a huge military parade on Red Square in Moscow to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany at the hands of the Soviet Union in World War II.
The Russian President used his speech to claim that Russian troops in eastern Ukraine were “defending the motherland”. He also said that the “special military operation” in Ukraine was necessary and was provoked by the West.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that the Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports threatens global food supplies.
