- According to the Ministry of Defense, 1,160 soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered in Mariupol in a day. They were blocked by our army at the metallurgical plant named after Ilyich. Does this mean that the Ukrainian military are beginning to surrender en masse and cease resistance in the city?
- It's too early to talk about it.
At the Ilyich plant, we put the enemy in a stalemate.
Our units surrounded the territory and constantly pressed the marines to the center of the plant, and our artillery shells regularly fly there.
Since these are not residential areas, but an industrial zone, we were not shy in choosing a caliber and methods of suppressing resistance.
As a result, the enemy was left with only one choice: to die or raise his hands and surrender.
Someone tried to break through, but we blocked this attempt.
- Now the Mariupol plant of Ilyich is completely cleared of the Ukrainian military?
- No, the territory of the plant is huge - tens of square kilometers.
Therefore, it is possible that there are still some soldiers there who have not surrendered.
We will tighten the ring around the plant until we clear the entire area.
We need to calmly and methodically “finish” this object in order to know for sure that the territory has been cleared.
- How is the cleansing of the territory from the remaining Ukrainian formations going?
— In these works, we proceed from the principle that no one has given up.
We have no right to flatter ourselves with the achieved results, therefore we consider that every building, every site is under the control of the enemy.
If we do not find anyone there, then we continue to move to the next object, based on the principle that there is always someone there.
We don't walk around the city relaxed.
Voluntarily surrendered servicemen of the 53rd brigade of the VFU in the Donetsk region.
Event date:24.02.2022
RIA News
Is the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine still making attempts to supply the Ukrainian military remaining in Mariupol with ammunition and other resources so that they can continue to fight?
- The very state of affairs around Mariupol does not allow the import of ammunition, food, medicines for the Ukrainian military here from outside.
We understand that the enemy still has some resource left, but there is a strong impression that this is a resource, so to speak, for the last throw, the last battle.
For example, we see that the enemy no longer resorts to a large caliber, from this we conclude that even if he still has artillery or tanks, he does not have enough ammunition to use them and regularly “snarl”.
- Recently, an appeal from the commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade appeared on the network. He stated that, together with his subordinates, he allegedly continues to resist after they managed to get out of the encirclement and join the nationalist Azov battalion at the Azovstal metallurgical plant. Do you know where the brigade commander is now and how many other people from the brigade are with him?
- In fact, they did not get out of the environment, but moved from one boiler to another.
The Ukrainian military, who have not yet surrendered, simply delayed the defeat that awaits them.
We saw that within the encirclement zone, within our ring, there were movements of small groups.
We tracked them and understood that some insignificant part of the enemy migrated from the Ilyich plant to the Azovstal plant.
The fact that they make dashes in the zone of our control is not a priority task that needs to be addressed now.
The brigade commander abandoned his personnel and, as a result, accelerated the surrender of his subordinates, who, without leadership, were demoralized.
For the last three weeks, we have seen that the Ukrainian units have practically no communication with each other.
Therefore, hundreds of marines who remained on Ilyich did not know for sure where exactly their brigade commander was: whether he continued to resist or simply fled.
A serviceman of the LPR leads Ukrainian prisoners of war along the territory of the memorial "We will not forget, we will not forgive!"
near the village of Vidnoye, Luhansk region, on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Ukrainian Aggression. Date of the event: 04/14/2022
© Alexey Maishev
- You said that you actually allowed a small part of the Ukrainian marines to escape from one environment to another. How many people could escape with the brigade commander?
These were very small groups, definitely less than a hundred people.
— How do you feel about the idea of sending prisoners of war to rebuild destroyed cities?
— Positively.
But first, all territories must be liberated, because the enemy continues to destroy cities and towns in the Donetsk region.
We cannot begin rebuilding while the shelling continues.
It is necessary to push the enemy as far as possible, deprive him of the opportunity to resist, and only then engage in peaceful work and restoration.
For example, they can be directed to the restoration of Mariupol.
Let them work there for a couple of years, as was the case with German prisoners of war after the Great Patriotic War.
This will be correct, because there will definitely not be enough workers, and even more so free workers.
- In your Telegram channel, you often talk about how the military helps civilians find food, housing, and solve problems with medical care. You also wrote that now in Mariupol "the help of civil authorities is very lacking." What specifically needs to be done so that people can receive systemic assistance?
“It is necessary to open social centers that will receive people, communicate with them and raise questions before the central authorities of the people's republics about providing people with transport, finance, and housing.
Even in 2014, when power in Donetsk completely collapsed, we created call centers where people called and asked for help.
These centers informed us, the military, about the tasks that needed to be solved.
And we, in turn, having transport, finances, helped people.
Now there are not enough such call centers.
In addition, there is a lack of support from public organizations and political parties.
Now, for security reasons, local deputies have been banned from working in the liberated territories.
This decision seems redundant to me: someone, but deputies should go and help local people.
— Does the Donetsk People's Republic have the resources to help thousands of civilians?
- Yes, in particular, there are serious human resources: the same deputies and public figures.
Donetsk, for example, clearly has not yet exhausted its possibilities for the resettlement of refugees.
Before Euro 2012 was held in the city, a huge number of hotels and hostels were built.
Many of them have already been used.
It is necessary to create hostels there for temporarily resettled people who were left homeless.
Residents of Mariupol stand in line for humanitarian assistance from volunteers. Event date: 04/03/2022
RIA News
© Ilya Pitalev
- You are a soldier, and now you have very important tasks to liberate the territories. In doing so, you regularly spend your time and resources to help civilians. Why?
“You see, helping the civilian population is a strategic task.
This is important from a humanistic point of view, when it is necessary to show a human attitude towards people, and from a political point of view, when it is necessary to take into account the consequences of our decisions.
Now we are solving our military tasks, and this, among other things, falls on the shoulders of civilians in the liberated territories.
If we quickly take them under our care, then they will not feel abandoned.
If we ignore them and refuse to help, then they will remain resentful of us.
We must understand that these people will remain in our society after the victory and the liberation of the territories.
Do we want people who are offended by us to live next to us?
I do not think so.
So it's a deferred payment issue.
— How do the civilians of Mariupol and other liberated territories now treat the Russian and Donetsk military?
- During the special operation, I talked with hundreds of civilians.
Now they perceive us as a natural disaster: for several years the situation has escalated, which now erupted like thunder.
That is, they treat us as part of a natural disaster, some inevitable process that moves on its own, even without our will.
On the other hand, we, the military, help civilians according to our capabilities.
And people have a split attitude: they make claims to a natural disaster, and gratitude to specific people.
And this moment is better not to miss.
- Is there a military or civil authority in Mariupol now?
- No, there are no civil authorities, military commandant's offices have not yet been created either.
It's just that military people show the usual human attitude towards civilians.
For example, I am not shy about leaving my phone number to residents.
They call me and ask me to solve some problems.
For example, a pregnant girl who lives with her family in the basement of a neighbor's house recently called.
She had a fever, and we took her to the hospital in Novoazovsk for the doctors to examine her.
Of course, we divert our resource, but how else?
We can't just leave people without help.
A burnt car near the destroyed railway station in Mariupol. Event date: 04/14/2022
RIA News
© Ilya Pitalev
- Is the demining of residential areas and streets now taking place in the city, or is it too early to carry out such work?
- So far, systematic work on demining the entire city is not being carried out.
There are full-time sappers in the units, whom we will use if urgent issues need to be resolved.
For example, residents who had a mine stuck in the ceiling of their apartment turned to us and asked to remove it - of course, we helped.
- In recent days, there has been talk on the network that it is very difficult for volunteers, war correspondents and public figures to smuggle humanitarian aid across the Russian border due to the fact that all cargo is inspected, some are sent for examination, and they are forced to fill out numerous declarations. What do you think should be done to increase the flow of humanitarian aid from the Russian side?
- A green corridor to the Donbass should be organized.
Help is being brought to us from all parts of Russia.
Volunteers store things near the border on Russian territory, because they cannot carry them further.
We tell them: “Please come to such and such an address, there are people who themselves agreed to provide a garage as a temporary warehouse.
Leave your things there, and we will pick them up when we can.”
As a result, we have cargo that has been lying near the border for more than a month, and we cannot pick it up.
For example, they do not allow plates for body armor to be brought in.
These are not weapons, not special equipment, just two pieces of iron for each body armor, but they save someone's life.
Unfortunately, now the process of passing humanitarian aid is extremely bureaucratic.
I understand if we were talking about the transportation of goods from our territory to Russia.
Here, one cannot do without a thorough inspection, so as not to miss illegal weapons, for example.
But what can be brought from Russia to the Donbass that would be more dangerous than the hostilities themselves?
Bombs are flying everywhere, the sky is falling to the ground.
There were also problems with the passage of humanitarian aid in 2014, but then it was a private issue of Donbass.
But now Russia is already conducting a special operation, let's take care of the people who in the Donbass solve important tasks for their homeland.