In the Donbass, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists, the situation is becoming "more and more difficult" for the Ukrainian defenders of Lugansk, one of the two regions...

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Mariupol: near Azovstal, people say they find it difficult to get used to the silence

The Azovstal factory in Mariupol, now under the control of pro-Russian forces.

Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow

4 mins

In the Donbass, partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists, the situation is becoming “

more and more difficult

” for the Ukrainian defenders of Lugansk, one of the two regions of this coal basin, and in particular in Severodonetsk, bombarded “

24 hours a day

,” according to Ukrainian Governor Serguiï Gaïdaï.

All Russian and pro-Russian forces are concentrated in this area.

The soldiers have almost left Mariupol, where our special correspondent has gone again.

From our special correspondent in Mariupol,

From now on, on the roads to get to Mariupol, when you come from the capital of the separatist republic of Donetsk, there are fewer checkpoints.

If you still need a special permit to go into the city, power is no longer in the hands of the military.

He was transferred to the police.

Central police station and other neighborhood branches are now installed.

Almost the whole city is accessible, except for the Azovstal factory and its surroundings.

It is now in the hands of deminers.

Hardly the last Ukrainian soldiers left, a few days ago, the work began.

Right across from the factory lives this former mechanic from Azovstal.

For him, it will be necessary to live a long time with the detonations of the mines.

It will take a long time to clear everything, because there are so many passages, so many tunnels... I worked there for 40 years, I worked in this Azovstal.

There are so many things.

You can't do this in a week or even a month.

You have to dig there for at least six months, because there are underground passages, pipelines, oil tunnels, everything!

It will take a long time.

It's just a pile of junk.

There's nothing left over there.

The pipelines are destroyed, everything is destroyed.

It's scary to go there.

You can step on anything now: shells, mines, corpses.

Tunnels and underground passages, there are up to at least twenty-thirty meters, perhaps.

After so many months of fighting, you have to expect everything in there.

I think it's over, it's impossible to restore.

You would have to spend so much money on it.

And anyway, where would you find the people to work there?

People are dead or gone, and the factory cannot function without professionals and, again, without a lot of money.

The houses in a neighborhood opposite the Azovstal factory.

In this neighborhood where the inhabitants say they still have trouble getting used to the silence, one wonders how to work, how to find income, and above all where to live.

Here more than elsewhere, the destruction is major.

Some houses are nothing more than a tangle of sheet metal and debris.

In the light of spring, this nagging question: but how to spend the next winter.

►Read again: The city of Mariupol, from the metallurgical industry to seaside tourism

Regarding the Azovstal soldiers, the able-bodied were immediately placed behind bars.

The injured had been transferred to be treated in a hospital along the coast, in Novoazovsk.

Only a few images from the Ministry of Defense had leaked.

This Monday evening, confirmation from Rosgvardia, the Russian National Guard: all have now been placed in detention centers.

00:38

The houses in a neighborhood opposite the Azovstal factory.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 2,439 Ukrainian soldiers and members of the Azov regiment have surrendered since May 16.

Their future ?

A trial, the leader of the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk had already said on Saturday.

But some are already talking about an exchange;

this was the case last Saturday, but Denis Pushilin, at midday, on Russian television, specified:

These prisoners are currently being held on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic.

In the future, it is planned to hold an international tribunal.

The relevant documents are being prepared, the statute of the tribunal is being drafted.

There may be intermediate courts, as after the Great Patriotic War.

According to the Interfax agency, this Monday evening, a first trial of the soldiers who surrendered will take place in Mariupol.

Others are planned in other places.

►Read again: In Mariupol on May 9, we also celebrated the independence of the separatist Republic of Donetsk

Mariupol: near Azovstal, people say they find it difficult to get used to the silence

Mariupol: near Azovstal, people say they find it difficult to get used to the silence

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