Ukrainian soldiers and hundreds of terrified civilians remained holed up in a Mariupol steel works last night as a commander begged for help to save them in what he called “our last address to the world”.
Children and pensioners were among those trapped in a basement at the plant, the final site of Ukrainian resistance in the beseiged and battered city.
The plea for international evacuation by Major Serhiy Volyna came as there was a partial evacuation of Mariupol during a temporary ceasefire.
Elsewhere Moscow upped the ante by claiming to have test-launched its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile – also known as Satan II.
Vladimir Putin said the weapon, capable of firing 15 warheads in a single strike, would “provide food for thought” for countries opposing his invasion.
Russia also claimed yesterday it had hit 1053 Ukrainian military facilities.
And there were reports Putin’s forces had started using “bunker buster” bombs in Mariupol.
Despite the ongoing onslaught, Major Volyna vowed his troops would not surrender, but he pleaded for international assistance for the 500 wounded soldiers and hundreds of women and children said to be hiding with them.
“This is our last address to the world. It may be our last ever,” he said. “It is possible we have just days or hours left.
“We call on world leaders to help us. We urge them to organise an extraction to take us to a third country.”
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works - covers four square-miles.
Major Voyna declined to say how many Ukrainian troops were left in the vast plant but said they had “good fighting spirit” despite the situation for the injured being “very bad”.
He added: “They are in a basement, they are rotting there.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the situation across Mariupol was worsening and he was ready to exchange Russian PoWs for the safe passage of civilians and troops.
Yesterday’s evacuation effort had limited success according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. “People gathered at the meeting points, but few of them got on to the buses,” he said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile backed calls for YouTube to remove a video of a British prisoner of war Aiden Aslin, captured by the Russians while serving with the Ukrainian marines.
MP Robert Jenrick, MP for Newark where Aiden lived before moving to Ukraine, told the Commons his “illegal” treatment by Russia breached the Geneva Convention. He also slammed British filmmaker Graham Phillips, who works for Russian TV, and shot the 44-minute film.
It includes a claim Aiden was a mercenary, which his family rubbished as propaganda.
Mr Jencrick said at Prime Minister’s Questions: “This is a flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention, that treating any prisoner of war in this manner is illegal.”
He added: “Graham Phillips, is in danger of prosecution for war crimes, and any platform, such as YouTube, which hosts propaganda videos of this kind should take them down immediately.”
The PM said: “I thoroughly echo the sentiments [Mr Jenrick] has expressed about those who broadcast propaganda.” In the video, Mr Phillips claimed the interview would abide by the convention and YouTube rules.
In a statement earlier this week, Aiden’s family blasted Russia’s claims about his status.
They said: “In 2018 Aiden moved to Ukraine where he met his girlfriend. Aiden decided to join the Ukrainian marines and has served for nearly four years.
“He is not, contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, a mercenary or spy.
“Aiden was making plans for his future outside the military but, like all Ukrainians, his life was turned upside down by Putin’s invasion.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres yesterday asked Putin and Mr Zelensky to receive him to discuss peace steps.
The UN also said the number of refugees who have fled Ukraine had now exceeded five million. More than half are children.
