This footage shows the conditions in the heavily-bombed Azovstal plant in Mariupol where Ukrainian defenders have taken a stand “without necessary medication and even food”, calling on the international community to rescue the injured.
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 organized resistance fighters remain at the plant, refusing to surrender to the invaders’ demands.
The Azov Battalion, a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine based in Mariupol, said on May 10: “The whole civilized world must see the conditions in which the wounded, crippled defenders of Mariupol are suffering and act!
“In completely unsanitary conditions, with open wounds dressed with non-sterile remnants of bandages, without necessary medication and even food.
“We call on the UN and the Red Cross to show their humanity and reaffirm the basic principles on which they were created by rescuing wounded people who are no longer combatants.
“The servicemen you see in the photo and hundreds more at the Azovstal plant defended Ukraine and the entire civilized world with serious injuries at the cost of their own health.
“Are Ukraine and the world community now unable to protect and take care of them?”
The brigade added: “We demand the immediate evacuation of wounded servicemen to Ukrainian-controlled territories where they will be assisted and provided with proper care.”
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 77th day of the campaign.
From February 24 to May 11, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 26,350 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,187 tanks, 2,856 armored fighting vehicles, 528 artillery systems, 185 multiple launch rocket systems, 87 anti-aircraft systems, 199 warplanes, 160 helicopters, 1,997 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 12 vessels, 390 unmanned aerial vehicles, 41 units of special equipment and 94 cruise missiles.
The latest statistics come as the US House of Representatives agrees to President Joe Biden’s request for extra cash for Ukraine. He said that without the 40 billion dollars aid package the fund would run dry, and it was approved yesterday to help Ukraine fight back against Russia in what is now a three-month-old invasion.
Legislators approved the Ukraine bill by 368 votes to 57 and the cash will be used to give military and economic assistance, as well as fund the work of regional allies. The bill now heads to the Senate which is expected to also quickly react before the existing money runs out later this month.
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.
