Video shows street battle between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers near Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol
A videograb shows a Russian soldier helping his fellow comrades in Mariupol.
A video of a street battle between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers emerged from the area surrounding the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the southern city of Mariupol.
The undated video showed Russian soldiers trying to storm a building in Mariupol but take some losses while out in the open.
A Twitter account named @Militarylandnet, that keeps tracks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said, “Russian troops came under fire while crossing a street in #Mariupol.”
Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko said that over 600 wounded remain in the field hospital at Azovstal plant.
He said Russians continue using heavy weapons. “Before shelling the hospital, the number of wounded was 170, now — over 600. Russian forces killed more than 20,000 people,” he said.
Mariupol in southeast Ukraine saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war so far and much of the port city now lies in ruins. Russia declared victory there last week but hundreds of Ukrainian forces and civilians remain trapped in the vast industrial complex of the city's Azovstal steel works.
Kyiv said on Friday plans were in place to evacuate civilians from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the southern city of Mariupol where Ukrainian forces and civilians are encircled by Russian troops.
"An operation to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal factory is planned for today," the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement, one day after the head of the UN said the organisation was "doing everything" to facilitate the rescue of civilians from the port city.
