Why did Putin prevent Russian forces from storming the Azovstal plant in Mariupol?
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his country's forces not to storm the Azovstal steel plant, which is the last stronghold of forces loyal to the Kyiv government in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Putin demanded Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who informed him today of the Russian forces' control of Mariupol, not to storm "Azovstal" and impose a complete cordon on it and to propose again on the Ukrainian forces holed up in it to surrender, while ensuring the preservation of their lives and their dignified treatment.
According to "Russia Today", Putin attributed the cancellation of the storming of "Azovstal" to the need to preserve the lives of Russian soldiers and said: "In such a special case, and as always, we must be more careful than any other time to preserve the life and health of our soldiers and officers. There is no need. To go down to the basements and crawl under the grounds of these industrial facilities.”
It is worth noting that Azovstal, which was inaugurated in 1930, is a giant concrete fortress that extends over an area of about 12 km between the Kalmius River and the Sea of Azov, and has its own shipping port and a complex system of underground facilities.
Among these facilities are a huge basement floor, a network of tunnels connecting the various parts of the factory, and an underground shelter 10 meters underground.
These underground facilities were built during the Cold War to protect 10,000 factory workers.
All this makes Azovstal an excellent fortress in which the besieged Ukrainian forces can resist Russian forces for a long time.
The number of the Ukrainian group besieged inside "Azovstal" (including members of the Ukrainian regular forces, the nationalist "Azov" battalion, and foreigners, according to data from the Russian Defense Ministry) is estimated at between 1,500 and 2,000 people.
Russia has announced more than once in recent days the opening of humanitarian corridors and has proposed to the besieged Ukrainian forces in "Azovstal" to disarm and surrender, but it refuses and demands that it be allowed to withdraw from Mariupol with its weapons, wounded and dead bodies, through the mediation of a third party.
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