Mariupol defenders: Azovstal steelworks destroyed, many people under rubble

The Azov Regiment has stated that the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol was destroyed by heavy bombs and many people were trapped under its rubble.

“On today's statement [by MP Serhiy Taruta on the bombed hospital near Azovstal]. It was our makeshift hospital ... Heavy bombs are dropped on the Azovstal steelworks, and now a lot of people are under the rubble ... Azovstal was bombed and destroyed almost completely. We are pulling people from the rubble," Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment Sviatoslav Palamar told Radio Liberty, Ukrinform reports.

He stressed that the defenders of Mariupol would fight till the last remaining cartridge but called on the homeland to save civilians, wounded, and take the bodies of the dead.

Earlier, MP Serhiy Taruta said that Russians had dropped a heavy bomb on a hospital in the Azovstal steelworks area, trapping about 300 people, including children, under rubble. Mariupol mayor adviser Petro Andriushchenko denied this statement, while Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko called the information about the mass casualties unconfirmed.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine released an audio interception of a phone call in which a Russian serviceman spoke about the order of the leadership to raze the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to the ground.

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