[우크라 침공] ‘Mariupol Last Bastion’ Steel Works CEO “Thousands of employees are missing”

In Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine that Russia has declared occupied, Ukrainian forces are still fighting the last battle. The Azoustal Works is the last stronghold of resistance against which they formed a base.

At least 150 workers have been killed and thousands of others are missing, Yuri Rezenkou, CEO of Metinvest Holding, Ukraine’s largest steelmaker, which operates the Azoustal steel mill, told CNN on the 28th (local time).

“What we do know is that only about 4,500 of the 11,000 steel mill workers have escaped from Mariupol and their whereabouts have been confirmed,” he said.

Mariupol is a key point connecting Crimea and Donbas, annexed by Russia in 2014. Currently, about 100,000 citizens are unable to escape from Mariupol. Hundreds of civilians besides Ukrainian soldiers are also reported to be detained at the Azoustal Works.

“Mariupol has been under siege for almost two months,” Rezenkou said.

“They make people get out of their cars or even walk through minefields,” he said. “There’s a humanitarian disaster going on there.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the 21st that he had taken control of Mariupol and ordered that the steelworks be “blocked so that not even a single fly can pass through it.”

Europe’s largest steel mill, with an annual production of 4 million tons of crude steel, has now become a symbolic place of war that has drawn the world’s attention.

“I don’t think President Putin wants a steel mill,” Rizenkou said of Russia’s attack on the Azostal steel mill until the end.

“The ironworks are a symbol of Russia’s will to occupy Mariupol,” he added. “They did not expect Mariupol to resist so much.”

The evacuated Azoustal Works were also in sorrow.

A person in charge of human resources who works at this steelworks for the third generation said, “Watching a city destroyed is comparable to watching your people die in my arms.” did.

“I hope to work at the Azoustal Works for the rest of my life,” he vowed.

[연합뉴스]

Copyrights ⓒ Yonhap News. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited