The defenders of three Mariupol districts were making their way to Azovstal. A group of volunteers rushed to aid from the Zaporizhzhia direction.
When the Russians captured the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works and the passage to the sea near the railway station, the available forces could no longer defend the right bank of Mariupol. The defense headquarters ordered them to retreat from the Central, Prymorskyi, and Kalmius districts. Due to the enemy air superiority, the relocation of almost a third of the garrison was a challenging operation. The Kalmius banks were connected by one narrow emergency bridge. The Russians were monitoring the Ukrainian forces from afar: one of their drones was already in the air when the column of vehicles was gathering on Prymorskyi Boulevard. Still, there were no attacks then. The Russians were waiting for the defenders to get to narrow roads near the crossing.
A reconnaissance group of 1st Azov Battalion with attached units left Azovstal to meet the right-bank garrison. The fighters were to get to the right bank and help the units to break through to the left. When the reconnaissance troops crossed the iron bridge and were moving toward the fishing port, the first column reached the bridge. Heavy shelling from all types of weapons began. Artillery, mortars, and guided missiles were aimed at the bridge and the surrounding area. Oleh “Dym (Smoke)” Ratushynskyi from the reconnaissance group was killed, and another fighter was listed as M.I.A.
There were about fifty of us in the port. We began preparing for the retreat at 02:00 a.m. The only machinery we had was a BTR-4E APC, a few Kozak APCs, and the Urals. A group of marines, who had earlier made their way to Azovstal from the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, were sent to the Cheryomushki Microdistrict to evacuate those who remained there.
We started toward Azovstal across Prymorskyi Boulevard and the railway station area. At around 03:00 a.m., we were attacked by the artillery. One Ural was destroyed. Finally, we and the Azov fighters (a group of about 100) got to the territory of the fish cannery.
photo from open sources
The bridge was heavily shelled and we decided not to go there. Lev “Horus” Pashko [22-year-old lieutenant who commanded 2nd Azov Battalion after Mykyta “Raz-Dva (One-two)” Nadtochiy was wounded; two days after the described events he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine] was retreating with us and decided to take the life rafts from the vessels and prepare them for the crossing.
The Azov fighters put a cable between the banks, tied 4-5 rafts together with ropes, and began the crossing. “Horus” remained on the right bank, and was one of the last to cross. By that time, the enemy noticed us from the large bridge and opened machine gun fire. “Horus” was wounded.
photo by Azov
photo by Azov
Some fighters, mostly wounded ones, went in vehicles. They had to cross the bridge. Those who could not find a place in the transport had to walk. Our group of a bit more than 100 people entered the hangar [in the fishing port]. We decided to cross the river using rafts. Since we had wounded with us, they were the first to cross. When the enemy noticed us, they used artillery against us.
My group remained to cover the crossing. There was my brother-in-arms, lying on the ground with his arm almost torn off. I gave first aid, took care of myself, assessed the situation, and reported that we had KIAs and WIAs and needed evacuation. The problem was that the raft was stuck in the middle of the river and we could not pull it out.
It took a long time to organize an evacuation, although Redis ordered getting us out at any cost. We were eventually evacuated by people from the command staff, which is against any protocols. They took us out on a metal boat. In the hospital at Azovstal, the doctors counted 13 fragments in my leg and another one in my arm. The doctors stabilized me but they did not have the necessary equipment to set the broken bones correctly. [1]
video by Azov
At night, we were ordered to prepare for a breakthrough to Azovstal. My leg was broken, so I had no control over my extraction: I'd be going wherever they'd be taking me. The first evacuation truck was full of wounded; the second was likewise packed. They carried me to the second one but it was also full. I was forced to take off my bulletproof vest to get into a Kozak APC without, and we set off. When we left the embankment and were in the suburbs not far from the bridge [about 1,200 m], the enemy opened fire. I was looking out the Kozak's window and saw fragments piercing the vehicle and stopping near your stomach. Both vehicles that hadn't had space for me were destroyed. One vehicle was destroyed by a 152 mm shell and the second burned on the bridge.
We all drove with headlights off, guided by the flashes of explosions. Our Kozak got stuck in a crater and we were ordered to abandon the vehicle. I couldn't even jump with my broken leg as it was held together by bandages and had a tourniquet on. Someone helped me out. There I was, watching cars and APCs drive past me. An APC stopped and backed up, they gave me a hand, and I climbed on top of the vehicle. There were a lot of fighters all over the vehicle. I grabbed someone and asked to hold me as otherwise I would have simply fallen off. When we reached the bridge, I felt weightlessness – the APC fell into the river.[2]
video by Azov
Serhiy Skrypal and Eduard Kashpor from the 23rd Marine Guard Detachment were on that APC with Oleksandr. They ended up in the water and crawled to the shore along the bottom. Everyone who was inside the APC died.
At night, an aerial bomb hit the Bastion command field bunker at Azovstal. The ceiling collapsed where Denys Prokopenko's bed was. However, he was on the radio, coordinating the withdrawal from the right bank, so he was unharmed.
photo by Azov
We were ordered to get our stuff and weapons, whatever we could carry. The rest was to be destroyed. There were five wounded who could not walk in my vehicle. I was ordered to deliver them to Azovstal works. As soon as we started moving we were attacked by BM-21 “Grad” MLRS systems, but they all missed us. Later, we came under fire from small arms but we managed to quickly escape the area.
We were attacked by all types of weapons: rifles, mortars, 152 mm, and MLRS. It did not stop for a second. I had never seen anything like that in my life, not even in movies or computer games. An APC and another car were driving in front of me. The latter got stuck in a crater, and my comrades came running out of the car shouting “Push!” I started pushing as I realized that any stop there could be fatal. An ATGM missile flew in about 5 meters away from me and hit the “Shrek” APC behind us.
photo by a representative of the aggressor state
My car almost fell into the river from the bridge but we managed to reach the main entrance to Azovstal. The previous time I had been there was when we had come to Azovstal to refuel some time ago. Something was burning but there was no major destruction. It looked like a landscape from Silent Hill. We couldn't even understand where we were. We found a large crater from an aerial bomb and began to carry the wounded there. All this time, from 04:00 to 06:00 a.m., the artillery kept firing. [3]
photo by a representative of the aggressor state
Before the breakthrough at Azovstal started, they prepared infantry groups with stretchers. According to the surgeon Yevhen Herasymenko, the next day, 104 wounded were delivered to the field hospital at the plant. Doctors were at the surgery tables for 36-38 hours.
We had to leave our BTR-80 APC immediately after crossing the bridge because there were ruins instead of entrances, and we could not drive in there. At the plant, they gave us our field bunker, which we named “Dzherelo” after our previous command post. Since all our stuff burned down during the breakthrough to Azovstal, we received new quadcopters, anti-tank weapons, radios, etc. We equipped the command post, hung the company flag, and were ready to continue the fight. Lev “Horus” Pashko was wounded during the breakthrough, so I took command of 2nd battalion, which was now reinforced by fighters from other units.
The bunker of the Dzerelo command post at Azovstal
Path from Dzherelo to the Dos and Beton field bunkers
photo by Azov
There was no global network of underground passages between the field bunkers. Still, some were partially connected, that is, to get somewhere you would have to go to the surface. Each unit allocated some fighters to scout those underground passages. We had four people responsible for the single task of drawing a map of the underground passages. “Dzherelo” was partially connected to “Bastion 2,” “Dos,” and “Beton” by underground passages, which had several exits to the surface. We were still fighting outside Azovstal then: the battalion held the line between Azovstalska Street and Morskyi Boulevard.
photo by MAXAR
While the defenders of the right bank were breaking through to Azovstal, there was a battle 150 kilometers from Mariupol, which was directly related to the defense of the city. On the night of April 14-15, there was an attempt to break through the outer blockade ring and reach Mariupol from the Zaporizhzhia axis. Volunteers – marines, airborne-assault troops, and SBU officers – were assembled and coordinated at SOF “Azov” base. They hoped to get a battalion tactical group, however, they lacked the necessary machinery.
The task of the newly created unit was not to break the city blockade. According to the plan, other units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were to distract the enemy and allow that group to cross the front line without fighting, go about 100 kilometers, and engage in a fight in the area of Manhush, 15-20 km west of Mariupol. They were going to act according to the situation then: the first option was to let the city garrison get out, and the second option was to reinforce the garrison with volunteer forces.
In the beginning of April, fighters led by Petro “Rollo” Horbatenko, the commander of the 1st detachment of the SFO “Azov” company, arrived in the Zaporizhzhia region from Kyiv. They were a light infantry unit that was to receive their vehicles on the spot. There were vehicles for a company group, and the vehicles available were not the best. They discussed the idea of disguising some fighters as Russians, so they took only captured items or older Soviet-era vehicles inherited by both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries.
Finally, about 150 infantrymen and 15 units of heavy machinery with crews were ready for the breakthrough. The column moved covertly at night. They failed to create a corridor for the group: due to the lack of technical means, they couldn't conduct aerial reconnaissance, while the enemy sent reinforcements to the location. They were engaged in the fight at the entrance to the village. The Ukrainian forces failed to force the enemy to leave their positions or even capture trophies, that said, the Russians tried to surround the group, jammed communications, and even called in artillery support and Ka-52 attack helicopters. An ATGM shot destroyed a Ukrainian APC along with its crew, two fighters were killed in the battle.
Losses were minimized due to the support of tanks led by Colonel Yevhen “Adam” Mezhevikin, Hero of Ukraine, 1st Separate Tank Brigade. The group's armored vehicles got stuck and had to be evacuated. Two captured Tiger infantry mobility vehicles also broke down. One of them remained on the road to distract the enemy. The tank gunner did not leave and covered the flank. In the middle of the day, Horbatenko ordered them to split into small groups and retreat using forest strips. They retreated being shelled by the artillery, tanks, and aircraft.
Russia says Mariupol ‘completely cleared’, urges surrender
Strategic port city has been completely cleared with a small group of holdout fighters on the outskirts told to ‘lay down their arms’, Russian defence ministry says.
To article →Public pressure demanded that the defenders of Mariupol be evacuated. We all wished the same but lacked understanding of how to do that due to the difficult situation in the Armed Forces. When it came to the point, and they were asked “Are you ready?” people kept quiet, there were few volunteers. Still, we managed to gather an initiative group that was ready to give it a try. One reinforced company was to move from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol. The main force was SFO “Azov,” and we and other fighters were to reinforce them. Another group was to move from Mariupol to meet us.
Later, it turned out that the operation had been planned “on the off chance.” When did I realize that? At the meeting before the departure, when they told us that the task was to get the defenders of Mariupol, and to the question “How will we get them out?” they told us that there would be no trucks. It seemed that they did not believe we would get anywhere. I guess they were counting on luck: if it worked out, they would be awarded medals; if it didn't, they wouldn't be reprimanded as it was society that demanded the fighters should be freed from the encirclement. Then, they collected machinery and shells for us across various military units. We had to conduct combat coordination and plan the task but the commander did not have time for that. I helped plan the battle. Some units were to create a corridor for us to go deep behind the enemy's defenses, destroy the reserves, artillery, and command post, and then continue our advance to Mariupol. The defenders of the city were to break through from the center to the outskirts of Mariupol and leave with us. If the return was impossible, we would stay in Mariupol and reinforce the defenders.
We set out. To cut a long story short, I will say the following: we shot ahead, and the infantry was left somewhere behind us. The units that were to create the corridor failed to break through the Russian defenses, they became engaged in a battle and suffered losses. Therefore, we were ordered to help create the corridor and destroy the enemy in the village where the battle was taking place. In the unit that needed our help, there was a man who recognized me – in 2014 we fought in Pisky together. He asked to cover them while they took out the wounded and killed. That was when our tank drove on a mine. Luckily, everyone except the vehicle was unharmed. I took another tank. All the wounded and killed were evacuated but it turned out that the entire unit we were supposed to conduct a breakthrough with had left. We decided to wait as we thought that someone would return. Later, we were heavily shelled by artillery and had to maneuver. We were still waiting for our forces to come to perform the task but they had already returned to the starting point. We waited until the evening, when we were ordered to return to the initial point. [4]
Командир морпіхів закликав терміново деблокувати Маріуполь
Ситуація є критичною. Маріуполь може врятувати або термінова військова операція, або політичне рішення. Командир 36-ї окремої бригади морської піхоти, майор Сергій Волина закликає владу провести деблокаду Маріуполя в найкоротші терміни або військовим, або політичним шляхом.
In the occupied part of Mariupol, the Russians introduced a pass system, thereby conducting a census of the surviving population in order to filter the unreliable. The city residents were forced to wear white ribbons – a mark of the invading troops.
On Monday, April 18, it was reported that the city would be closed to entry and exit, and movement between districts would also be prohibited for a week. During that period, 100% of the men remaining in the city would be filtered. All men were interrogated in the filtration camps and points, their gadgets were checked, and their bodies were examined. There were frequent reports of abuse and beatings.
video from representatives of the aggressor country
The humanitarian situation was worsening. The invaders announced the opening of a hospital in the 17th residential area but due to the hostilities, it was inaccessible to most Mariupol residents. Medicines were delivered randomly and distributed in bulk, despite medical advice.
To build loyalty within the city and among the evacuees, on social media, the Russians took control of most of the groups related to searching for loved ones and recording damage to housing. They began sharing content there to create an image of the “polite and helpful” invaders, while the Ukrainian authorities were to “be blamed for everything.”
During the day, 363 Mariupol residents went to Zaporizhzhia through humanitarian corridors.
They were in the Bastion field bunker when it was hit by an airstrike
They were in an APC that fell off the bridge
