A Ukrainian soldier who symbolised the fight against Russia in Mariupol published a final poignant message before his capture as his comrades' resistance came to an end.
Dima Kozatsky was among hundreds of fighters captured by Russian forces at the besieged Azovstal steelworks in the coastal city.
Mr Kozatsky, from the elite Azov Regiment, had documented their struggle in a series of pictures tweeted from his underground base as Russia bombed the site
In his last post, the "fierce patriot" reportedly wrote: "Well that’s all there is. Thank you for sheltering me, Azovstal –the place of my death and my life."
Russia’s defence minister claimed last night (Friday) that 1,908 of the crack troops had surrendered, reports Mail Online.
Sergei Shoigu said he believed as many as 600 were still inside the plant.
The ex-radio host, Dima Kozatsky, and a former student at a Polish university, is said to have signed up for the Ukrainian army in 2015 before joining Azov in 2017. The Kremlin has repeatedly made bogus claims that the Azov Regiment is made up of so-called "Nazis".
In an interview with Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske, the native of Malyn, to the north of the capital Kyiv, described the "endless horror" of this daily fight for survival.
He said: "We have wounded fighters and the dead here who we are protecting. We cannot abandon them, as they have contributed their maximum to this war – some at the cost of their own lives, some at the cost of their health.’
Russia’s supreme court will reportedly rule on May 26 whether to classify the battalion as a "terrorist organisation", while Russian MPs have called for them to face trial for alleged war crimes.
The Ukrainian government said it will try to bring them back home in a prisoner swap with captured Russian troops.
