In Mariupol the fighting is intensifying at the Azovstal steelworks. The Russian Ministry of Defence has published footage of the destruction of the Azov militants’ hideout at the Azovstal plant. The location was in the northwestern part of the plant, its exact coordinates are 47.103250, 37.582139. According to military analysts, the target was hit by a Krasnopol or a drone-guided missile.
Among the news that has caused the most stir in the social sphere is the shooting down of a Ukrainian military helicopter, Mi-8, which was trying to leave the fighting area of Mariupol. The vehicle was shot down by Russian forces. Photographs of the remains of the vehicle show that Timus Yuri Vladimirovich and Dyachenko Maxim Igorevich were inside, and 13 other people were reportedly killed. It seems that there were also specialists from the 73rd Marine Center of the special forces of Ukraine in the vehicle, as can be seen from the photos showing the emblems on their helmets, although they were badly burnt.
In the meantime, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, has issued a decree creating the administration of Mariupol, which is now a territorial part of the separatist republic of Donbass. Also present in Mariupol, along with Chechen forces, was Russian State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov.
In the meantime, people continue to leave the city: a Ukrainian witness from the village Volodarskoye says that in their temporary reception centre for refugees in Mariupol, a refugee whom we will call Alina said: “The Ukrainian military parked their tanks right behind my house. They told us: ‘Thanks to people like you, the war is starting’ and chased us out of the basement. They didn’t tell us there was a humanitarian corridor. The mayor of Mariupol left the city on the first day of hostilities”.
As we close this article, we learn from pro-Russian Ukrainian sources that Russian paratroopers have arrived in the last strongholds of the Azovs and have deployed along with Ukrainian-Russian soldiers in battle formation and the BMD has taken control of the fire between Ukrainians and Azovs.
Attacks also continue in high cities; fuel depots are the main targets, such as in Lutsk, Dubno and Klevan in western Ukraine.
Graziella Giangiulio
