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Mariupol remains one of the main battlefields in Ukraine. Fierce fighting continues in the city in the main hotspots, including the seaport area, the Azovstal facilities and the Ilyich factory. The besieged remnants of the AFU units realize their desperate situation. Some of them surrender to the Russian and DPR armies, while others try to break out of the trap in Mariupol.
On the night of April 12, the Ukrainian military attempted to break out of the Ilyich plant in Mariupol. They put Russian identification marks on a convoy of more than 30 combat vehicles and tried to escape to the north, towards Mangush. All the movements of the AFU were under the close air control of the Russian drones. Thus, the breakthrough attempt was thwarted by air strikes and artillery. According to the former DPR Security Minister Oleksandr Khodakovskyy, some of the Ukrainian soldiers scattered around.
“A group of Ukrainian servicemen numbering up to 100 people in armored vehicles tried to fight their way out of the factory. Three Ukrainian tanks, five infantry fighting vehicles, seven vehicles and up to 50 personnel were destroyed. 42 Ukrainian servicemen laid down their weapons and surrendered” – according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The roads leading to the city from the north are currently blocked by Russian troops to prevent the escape of the AFU servicemen.
UPD: A video was published showing the surrender
According to the local sources, the attempt was carried out by the servicemen of the 36th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces blocked in the industrial zone of the Azovmash. Before the operation, an appeal was published on their official Facebook account. They reported an acute shortage of ammunition, which they faced, accusing Kiev military officials of their abandonment.
” The infantry all died and the gunners, anti-aircraft gunners, signalmen, drivers and cooks are leading the shooting battles. Even the orchestra.” – the appeal reads.
Russian military sources shared documents of a high-ranking Ukrainian marine officer, Lieutenant Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Rostislav Lomtev, who served as a deputy of the 36th brigade. He was reportedly captured by the DPR fighters in Mariupol.
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On April 12, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, stated that the port of Mariupol was liberated by the forces of the DPR Armed Forces and had passed under the control of the republic. The nearby areas are being mopped up.
In Mariupol, the last points of resistance remain on the territory of the Azovstal facility. Remaining forces of the Ukrainian army are being pushed out the coastal area and the Ilyich plant.
According to the estimates by the DPR officials, between 1,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian fighters are still hiding at the Azovstal. So far, the cumulative number of fighters in the seaport area is unknown. According to the DPR military, a grouping of 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been surrounded in Mariupol since early March, while figures provided by the Ukrainian side were slightly different, about 14,500 soldiers. The AFU use the underground passages of the Azovstal facilities built in Soviet times as a shelter.
Militiamen from the DPR work on the territory of Mariupol to secure evacuation of civilians from Mariupol. Civilians are transported with BRM-1K reconnaissance vehicles.
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As a result, Mariupol is almost completely under the DPR control. The Azovstal plan remains the last pocket of resistance. Storming the fortress of Ukrainian nationalists may take a long time, but time is one of the most valuable resources for the advancing Russian and DPR forces.
On April 11, Eduard Basurin said that there is no point in storming the underground fortifications of Azovstal in Mariupol, since it will be very difficult to take control over the underground facilities and the Russian army, as well as the LDPR, may suffer significant losses. The Russian side does not want to sacrifice its military. Instead, according to Basurin, it is possible to “turn to the chemical troops.”
“At the moment, we need to deal with the blocking of this plant, find all the exits and entrances, it is possible to do this. And after that, I think we should turn to the chemical troops, who will find a way to smoke moles out of their holes,” he said.
As a result, Azov fighters immediately claimed that Russian drone dropped some chemical weapons at the Azovstal. Zelensky and the MSM traditionally spread the fake news, crying of another inhumane action of the Russian aggressors. The Media have already assured that zarin was used against civilians in Mariupol.
In fact, these statements have nothing to do with reality.
Bassurin has already denied the use of any chemical weapon in the Azovstal. He added that, as he had already mentioned, the use of the man-portable disposable rocket-assisted flamethrower RPO-A Shmel by assault groups is already a time-tested tactics of fighting in similar conditions.
On April 11, he only supposed the involvement of chemical troops in the mop up operation. At the same time, the use of legal chemical weapons seems to be a beneficial option for the DPR. Without violating the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, DPR and Russian forces could use tear gas, which is used by the police in all countries of the world. Such a tactics would save the large industrial facility, save lives of Russian and DPR servicemen, as well as lives of Ukrainian nationalists, as there are non-lethal legal chemical weapons.
