After the capture of Berdyansk, Russian columns have a clear axis of advance toward Mariupol from the west. Tanks reach the city limits from the north but run into the Azov Regiment’s defenses.
The enemy is committing fresh forces to the breach near the village of Anadol. Russian T-80 main battle tanks advancing toward the ‘Stalevar’ (Steelmaker) sign opposite the sinter plant of the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works.
View of the sinter plant from the Volnovakha–Mariupol highway, photo by Alex Shevchenko
Our snipers drove off the enemy crews, then we tried to use our armored vehicles to destroy those tanks. Both of our vehicles were nonoperating. Our guys managed to start them, jury-rigged them into working, and tried to use them in the skirmishes. We did not destroy the enemy tanks but we scared them off.
At night, we observed a huge amount of armored vehicles coming. I presume the entire 150th Motor Rifle Division was there. They didn't risk a frontal attack on the sinter plant, due not least to the fact that we'd mined the surrounding area. It should be noted that we had only ten live anti-tank mines, randomly mixed with inert training ones. The ratio of mines in this field was approximately 20 percent to 80 percent, in favor of training ones. After conducting aerial reconnaissance and learning of the loss of its forward security detachment and sighting our tanks, the enemy decided to bypass us via Staryi Krym, while a “DPR” battalion occupied Makedonivka. We learned this later, from the maps found with the killed Russian general [see the events of March 10].
Голова Донецької обласної військово-цивільної адміністрації про те, чи вдається втримати Маріуполь
Гаряче нині у Маріуполі, за повідомленнями місцевих від самого ранку місто криють градами. Не минулося без загиблих та поранених, знаємо про щонайменше сорок зруйнованих будинків. На зв'язку з нами просто зараз голова Донецької обласної військово-цивільної адміністрації Павло Кириленко.
In the period between February 27 and March 1, infantry mounted on on MT-LBs and BMP IFVs attacked. I guess there were more than fifty armored vehicles. We couldn't even count them. They established positions in the area of the Silpo supermarket and Epitsenter hardware hypermarket, and we were ordered, supported from the 36th Marine Brigade’s tanks, to dislodge the enemy. I saw an MT-LB hidden behind the trees near the Silpo and fired at it. Soon, we retreated to the Epitsenter to control the territory from there. From there, I observed something made of car tires near the Silpo, reported that to the commander, and received permission to open fire. The tire flew apart, and in its place appeared a tank aiming in my direction. I quickly reloaded and fired again. The tank caught fire but a second one drove up next to it. We engaged in a battle lasting 20-30 minutes. The amount of fire and smoke made it impossible to see anything. We won that battle... Later, we were shelled by BM-21 Grad MLRS, thus, we were ordered to return to the old position at the brick factory. [1]
In the first days of the full-scale invasion, the Azov Regiment command proposed to Armed Forces leadership that the regiment be redeployed west of Mariupol to defend the lines aroundMelitopol and Berdyansk areas, but the proposal was rejected. A different technique to detain the enemy was adopted: at night, the Azov sabotage teams infiltrated Melitopol under cover of darkness and blew up Russian vehicles on the city's bypass road.video by Azov
On the evening of February 27, the Russian vanguard detachment diverted from the Melitopol-Mariupol M14 highway and entered Berdyansk via the village of Azovske. Authorities reported that gunfire was heard in the city. According to official data, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed then, as well as following the shelling Berdiansk had experienced since February 24.
The invaders then took the ships captured in Berdyansk to Novorossiysk.
One kilometer to the south of the Berdyansk airport, at the scrap-metal depot, there was a service yard of the 66th Separate Artillery Battalion (military unit A2611) of the 406th Separate Artillery Brigade, Ukrainian Naval Forces. The artillery of this unit was part of the Mariupol Operational-Tactical Group. The photos and videos of this location published by the Russians feature 8-9 abandoned 152-mm Giatsint-B howitzers , KrAZ trucks, and an MT-LB towing unit. This is only the vehicles kept outside the hangars.
Open sources state that the commander of the 66th Battalion was Lieutenant Colonel Yevhen Strohanov. By the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated April 2, 2022, Strohanov was awarded the Order of Courage, 3rd Class, for “personal courage in combat missions and selfless actions defending Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity of.” By another Presidential Decree of February 1, 2023, he was awarded the Order of Danylo Halytskyi.
The capture of Berdyansk opened the eastern road to Mariupol for the Russians.
At the end of 2020, several units were redeployed to Berdyansk: the Southern Naval Base (military unit A3130), the 21st Separate Radio-Technical Company (A1980), and the 66th Battery of the 406th Separate Artillery Brigade (A2611). Also stationed in the city were the 8th Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Service (1491), part of the 503rd Separate Marine Battalion (A1965), a patrol battalion of the 23rd Zaporizhzhia Brigade of the National Guard (3033), and the 761st Separate Radar Company (A2019). In Berdyansk port, part of the 9th Surface Ships Division was based: the small armored gunboats Akkerman and Vyshhorod, and the naval tug Korets.
On February 27, Mi-8 helicopters flew in to evacuate wounded civilians and military personnel at the intersection of Boyka Avenue and Karpinskoho Street. This episode became famous after the video by the paramedic Yulia “Taira” Payevska was posted. She was captured on March 16 but managed to hand her camera’s memory card to journalists.
The situation in Mariupol worsened steadily. The Russians continue shelling residential areas. On this day, a 6-year-old girl, severely wounded by shrapnel, was taken to the regional hospital but they were unable to save her life. The work of cameraman Mstyslav Chernov and photographer Yevhen Malolyetka made the whole world see the tragedy.
On February 27, they delivered a child, a six-year-old girl with a mine-blast trauma. She had a lacerated thorax with an open chest defect. We tried to resuscitate her and intubated. But while we ventilated her with an Ambu bag, we saw that this air was coming out through the ruptured lung tissue after being pumped in. The doctors were in tears. Even I had a nervous breakdown then, and I am not ashamed to admit this.
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To article →Since then, the shelling of the city never ceased. Although it is not mentioned in this chronology, mortars, bombs, artillery shells, and missiles were raining down on all districts of Mariupol, day and night.
Украинские националисты бьют по жилым кварталам
Подло, исподтишка, по тем, кто не может ответить — по школам и домам мирных людей. Утром пришла информация о том, что батальон «Азов» реактивными системами «Град» ударил по жилым кварталам населенного пункта Сартана в пригороде Мариуполя и по мариупольской школе. Есть погибшие среди мирного населения, разрушены несколько зданий. Об этом сегодня сообщили в Минобороны, подвергнув, что предупреждали о подготовке украинскими националистами подобных провокаций.
To article →On February 26-27, we received one hundred tons of grain at the port and delivered it to the grain elevator. It had not been in operation for three years, so no one believed we could start it. We had to find a former employee who compiled a list of the personnel we needed to restore operations. We started to gather them….
When we started the elevator and milled the grain, we had one hundred tons of flour to be delivered to the bread factory, which was on the corner of Lomizova and Azovstalska streets. There was no bulk flour truck, so we packed sugar bags manually and used a forklift to load them into the back of a regular truck. We gathered twenty people at the bread-baking facility: Azovstal employees and ours. They carried the sacks of flour in two shifts, day and night.
The facility kept baking bread until the power went out. There was also a mini-bakery operating in the Karpinskoho Street area. They had power supply a bit longer, so we supplied the military hospital with bread from there. We also organized bread baking in a private residence with a coal-fired stove. Women worked there in rotating shifts. Of course, these were small volumes given a city scale, so we tried to provide bread at least to the wounded.
Photo provided by the Mariupol City Council
There were six fire and rescue units in Mariupol: one for each of the four districts and two at the iron and steel works. The State Fire and Rescue Unit 25, located near the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works in Kalmius District, was the first to come under artillery fire. Since there was no shelter in that building, the equipment and personnel were relocated to the building of the telecommunications and data transmission shop, Ilyich Iron and Steel Works.
The aftermath of the shelling of еhe State Fire and Rescue Unit 25, video by the State Emergency Service
At our permanent station, the State Fire and Rescue Unit 22 in the Central District, 287 Mariupol civilians were taking cover from the artillery fire. We separated a room for a toilet and made emergency exits in our basement in case the building collapsed. 300 people were housed at the permanent station of the State Fire and Rescue Unit 23 in Prymorskyi District. They were provided with medical care and food products. In the first days, employees' families hid in the State Fire and Rescue Unit 24 building (Livoberezhnyi District). Still, on March 3, due to shelling and the close combat, they and the personnel with equipment moved to the State Fire and Rescue Unit 22 on Mytropolitska Street.
On February 25, the Russians began airstrikes on the villages of Talakivka and Sartana, the destruction was quite serious. The State Fire and Rescue Unit 25 crews deployed there to extinguish fires and render aid. We took people from Sartana, Talakivka, and Lebedynske to the center of Mariupol in cooperation with the Mariupol authorities, rescuers, police, and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross. We believed it would be safer there. Operations beyond Talakivka, toward Hnutove and Pavlopil, were no longer possible.
Evacuation of residents from villages near Mariupol, photo by the State Emergency Service
On February 27, we made emergency purchases. We tried to anticipate items that might prove essential. We believed all of it would not last long, and we would not have to wait for a long time until the shops would resume operations. We thought that some of them would be open, so there was no need to stock up for a month or two. Thus, on February 27, we were already making purchases under incoming fire. It was not our microdistrict but the ones closest to us that were under heavy bombardment. It was scary to be outside; the familiar walls of home offered a certain feeling of protection, an illusion of safety. There was still running water: normal pressure on the lower floors, and at least a thin trickle on the upper ones. We spent the whole night gathering water in various containers. [2]
video from open sources
That day, Mariupol was completely cut off from railway connections. Day trains departed but two evening ones to Kyiv were canceled due to infrastructure damage and the risk of shelling. Passengers remained on the platform. The next morning, the local authorities helped them to go to Zaporizhzhia by bus.
