Hundreds of Ukrainian fighters surrendered to an uncertain fate on Tuesday after weeks holed up in the bunkers and tunnels below Mariupol's Azovstal steel works as the most devastating siege of Russia's war in Ukraine drew to a close.
Mariupol and specifically Azovstal steel plant was very, very grim. People in and around Mariupol testified that their residential areas were used to station artillery, and that the Ukrainian military forced them to stay in place in order to make the Russian army more hesitant to advance on their positions (since, despite what you may have been told, the Russian military does actually want to avoid civilian casualties, whether their motivations are humanitarian or PR-related or both is besides the point). Most of the people in Mariupol, being Russian speakers of the Donbass region, were more sympathetic to LPR/DPR/Russia than to West Ukraine. So it was very easy for the Ukrainian military to use them as human shields, accuse them of being disloyal saboteurs, etc., since these are the same civilians they've been committing war crimes against for 8 years now. At least a few thousand civilians were prevented from leaving, and many of the the ones that tried to escape anyway testify that they were fired upon by the Ukrainian military. As the situation got worse, the military retreated to the tunnels beneath the Azovstal steel plant and took civilians with them into these "shelters" as hostages. This is in spite of the fact that Russia's modus operandi is to only engage with armed forces and to open humanitarian corridors in their front lines for civilians to escape through. So you have, for weeks on end, these people trapped beneath the steel plant, getting rained on with artillery, dust and smoke everywhere, many injured, dying, infected wounds. I saw grainy cell phone footage of injured people, soldiers and civilians, quite literally rotting alive in the basements of Azovstal. No doubt many people were also breathing in asbestos and shit like that since, if I recall the steel plant is pretty old, and Russia/Ukraine are one of the few regions in the world that still mines and uses asbestos on an industrial scale.
a maze of bunkers and tunnels to withstand nuclear attack
Haven't really been following the Ukraine stuff but this kind of stuff afaik is really common all across the former Soviet Union, though I'm sure to people who don't know that it sounds spooky and scary. The USSR apparently actually wanted its population to have a chance of surviving the nuclear holocaust.
Nice sentiment but tbh I think I'd rather have the first warhead detonate right on top of me instead.
Mariupol and specifically Azovstal steel plant was very, very grim. People in and around Mariupol testified that their residential areas were used to station artillery, and that the Ukrainian military forced them to stay in place in order to make the Russian army more hesitant to advance on their positions (since, despite what you may have been told, the Russian military does actually want to avoid civilian casualties, whether their motivations are humanitarian or PR-related or both is besides the point). Most of the people in Mariupol, being Russian speakers of the Donbass region, were more sympathetic to LPR/DPR/Russia than to West Ukraine. So it was very easy for the Ukrainian military to use them as human shields, accuse them of being disloyal saboteurs, etc., since these are the same civilians they've been committing war crimes against for 8 years now. At least a few thousand civilians were prevented from leaving, and many of the the ones that tried to escape anyway testify that they were fired upon by the Ukrainian military. As the situation got worse, the military retreated to the tunnels beneath the Azovstal steel plant and took civilians with them into these "shelters" as hostages. This is in spite of the fact that Russia's modus operandi is to only engage with armed forces and to open humanitarian corridors in their front lines for civilians to escape through. So you have, for weeks on end, these people trapped beneath the steel plant, getting rained on with artillery, dust and smoke everywhere, many injured, dying, infected wounds. I saw grainy cell phone footage of injured people, soldiers and civilians, quite literally rotting alive in the basements of Azovstal. No doubt many people were also breathing in asbestos and shit like that since, if I recall the steel plant is pretty old, and Russia/Ukraine are one of the few regions in the world that still mines and uses asbestos on an industrial scale.
fun fact I've learned about Azovstal steel plant:
it is "a vast Soviet-era plant founded under Josef Stalin and designed with a maze of bunkers and tunnels to withstand nuclear attack."
the nazis of azov battalion hiding inside of soviet-era infrastructure is hella ironic
I mean 2 former Soviet republics that became capitalist oligarchies fighting a war using Soviet equipment in Soviet built cities is just sad.
:ussr-cry:
siege culture :kelly:
Haven't really been following the Ukraine stuff but this kind of stuff afaik is really common all across the former Soviet Union, though I'm sure to people who don't know that it sounds spooky and scary. The USSR apparently actually wanted its population to have a chance of surviving the nuclear holocaust.
Nice sentiment but tbh I think I'd rather have the first warhead detonate right on top of me instead.