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How a Mariupol steel plant became a holdout for the city's resistance
EUROPE
How a Mariupol steel plant became a holdout for the city’s resistance
By Adam Taylor and Niha Masih
April 18, 2022 | Updated April 19, 2022 at 9:47 a.m. EDT
A satellite image shows Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 9. (Maxar Technologies/Reuters)
Long before Mariupol’s Azovstal Iron and Steel Works became a key battleground in Ukraine, it played a dominant role in the port city’s economy. As one of the largest metallurgical factories in Europe, it pumped out more than 4 million tons of crude steel annually and provided livelihoods to tens of thousands of people.
But now, amid a devastating war and a weeks-long siege by Russian forces, the sprawling industrial park is no longer producing steel. Instead, the plant and its network of underground tunnels are serving as a shelter and final holdout for thousands of Ukrainian fighters, including many from the Azov Battalion, one of Ukraine’s most skilled — and controversial — military units. ... As many as 1,000 civilians are also hiding in the subterranean network, Mariupol’s city council said Monday in a Telegram message.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday repeated its demand that Ukrainian fighters inside the facility lay down their arms, giving them a new deadline of noon local time. The deadline passed without any apparent surrender. Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces were bombing not only Azovstal but also nearby residential areas.
Azovstal was originally constructed in the early Soviet era and was later rebuilt after the Nazi occupation of Mariupol between 1941 and 1943 left it in ruins. It now occupies four square miles along the city’s waterfront. ... “Under the city, there is basically another city,” Yan Gagin, an adviser with the pro-Moscow separatist group the Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russian state news network RIA Novosti over the weekend. ... Gagin complained that the site was designed to withstand bombings and blockades — and that it has an inbuilt communication system that strongly favors the defenders, even if they are far outnumbered.
{snip}
Ellen Francis contributed to this report.
By Adam Taylor
Adam Taylor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. Originally from London, he studied at the University of Manchester and Columbia University. Twitter https://twitter.com/mradamtaylor
By Niha Masih
Niha Masih is an India-based correspondent for The Washington Post based in New Delhi. Before joining The Post in 2019, she reported on politics, conflict and religious fundamentalism in India for Hindustan Times and New Delhi Television (NDTV). Twitter https://twitter.com/NihaMasih
How a Mariupol steel plant became a holdout for the city’s resistance
By Adam Taylor and Niha Masih
April 18, 2022 | Updated April 19, 2022 at 9:47 a.m. EDT
A satellite image shows Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 9. (Maxar Technologies/Reuters)
Long before Mariupol’s Azovstal Iron and Steel Works became a key battleground in Ukraine, it played a dominant role in the port city’s economy. As one of the largest metallurgical factories in Europe, it pumped out more than 4 million tons of crude steel annually and provided livelihoods to tens of thousands of people.
But now, amid a devastating war and a weeks-long siege by Russian forces, the sprawling industrial park is no longer producing steel. Instead, the plant and its network of underground tunnels are serving as a shelter and final holdout for thousands of Ukrainian fighters, including many from the Azov Battalion, one of Ukraine’s most skilled — and controversial — military units. ... As many as 1,000 civilians are also hiding in the subterranean network, Mariupol’s city council said Monday in a Telegram message.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday repeated its demand that Ukrainian fighters inside the facility lay down their arms, giving them a new deadline of noon local time. The deadline passed without any apparent surrender. Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces were bombing not only Azovstal but also nearby residential areas.
Azovstal was originally constructed in the early Soviet era and was later rebuilt after the Nazi occupation of Mariupol between 1941 and 1943 left it in ruins. It now occupies four square miles along the city’s waterfront. ... “Under the city, there is basically another city,” Yan Gagin, an adviser with the pro-Moscow separatist group the Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russian state news network RIA Novosti over the weekend. ... Gagin complained that the site was designed to withstand bombings and blockades — and that it has an inbuilt communication system that strongly favors the defenders, even if they are far outnumbered.
{snip}
Ellen Francis contributed to this report.
By Adam Taylor
Adam Taylor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. Originally from London, he studied at the University of Manchester and Columbia University. Twitter https://twitter.com/mradamtaylor
By Niha Masih
Niha Masih is an India-based correspondent for The Washington Post based in New Delhi. Before joining The Post in 2019, she reported on politics, conflict and religious fundamentalism in India for Hindustan Times and New Delhi Television (NDTV). Twitter https://twitter.com/NihaMasih