ExplainerWho were Mariupol’s last defenders?
- Ukrainian forces were a mix of seasoned soldiers, border guards, a controversial national guard regiment and volunteers who took up arms just before the invasion
- Russia’s Defence Ministry said a total of 2,439 Ukrainian fighters from the steelworks had surrendered since Monday
The Ukrainian forces who made a determined last stand in a Mariupol steel mill against Russian troops were a mixture of seasoned soldiers, border guards, a controversial national guard regiment and volunteers who took up arms in the weeks before Russia’s invasion.
As Russia announced it had completed its takeover of Mariupol with the surrender of the fighters who served as the final obstacle, Ukraine’s government did not confirm the city’s fall. Earlier in the week, Ukrainian officials said its combatants in the Azovstal steel plant had completed their mission and were being evacuated, describing them as heroes who had fulfilled a gruelling task.
Here’s a look at these Ukrainian forces, who were taken prisoner by the Russians as they left the plant, and what they accomplished:
01:56
Ukrainian soldiers surrender besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to Russia
Who were Mariupol’s defenders?
Russia’s Defence Ministry said 2,439 Ukrainian fighters from the steelworks had surrendered since Monday, including over 500 on Friday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
The fighters who held out at Azovstal, for much of the nearly three-month siege of Mariupol with Ukrainian civilians who sought safety in the plant’s underground bunkers and tunnels, came from a variety of different military and law enforcement units, according to Ukrainian officials.
There was the Azov Regiment, which is part of Ukraine’s National Guard; the 36th Special Marine Brigade of Ukraine’s Naval Forces and the 12th brigade of the National Guard. Border guards, police officers, and territorial defence squads formed soon before the war supplemented their ranks.
The bulk of these forces were deployed to defend Mariupol, home to a strategically located port, at the start of the Russian invasion. Marines from the 36th brigade held the port and another large plant in Mariupol for more than a month, until they ran out of supplies and ammunition.
They moved to the Azovstal steel mill to join the Azov Regiment, a national guard unit with roots in the far right, and some of them were captured by the Russians.