Mariupol: "Violent fighting" in Azovstal, "lost contact" with Ukrainian fighters

Europe 1 with AFP 4:01 p.m., May 4, 2022

“Violent fighting” is underway at the Azovstal site in Mariupol, Ukraine, Mayor Vadim Boïtchenko said on Wednesday, moments after Moscow assured not to carry out an assault on this huge factory where Ukrainian fighters are entrenched .

"Unfortunately there is heavy fighting in Azovstal today," Vadim Boitchenko told Ukrainian television.

"We've lost contact with the guys. We can't know what's going on there, whether they're safe or not," he added.

According to him, "heavy artillery, tanks (and) aviation" are at work in this Russian offensive, as well as "ships that approached" the coasts, the territory of Azovstal being along from the Sea of ​​Azov.

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"Our guys are brave and are defending the fortress, but it's really difficult," he greeted on Ukrainian television, saying that "having held back the enemy" for weeks, the last fighters entrenched in the underground of the huge Azovstal metallurgical complex "had saved time".

Vadim Boitchenko once again assured that there were "civilians, hundreds there", but also "children waiting to be rescued".

"There are more than 30," he said.

A "powerful assault" denied by the Kremlin on Tuesday

A Ukrainian commander of the Azov regiment that defends the steel plant said on Tuesday that the Russians had launched "a powerful assault" on the site, but the Kremlin denied this information on Wednesday.

“The order was given (April 21) publicly by the commander-in-chief (Vladimir Putin) to call off any assault. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

He added that forces from Moscow were besieging the site and only intervening to "very quickly halt attempts" by Ukrainian fighters to reach "firing positions".