The commander of the last Ukrainian forces defending the port city of Mariupol told Insider that he and his soldiers will not surrender.
Major Serhiy Volyna said in an interview that his troops would not lay down.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called off an assault on the Azovstal steel plant, where hundreds of Ukrainian troops have taken refuge in a network of underground bunkers built by the Soviet Union.
Volyna said he didn't believe Putin's assurances that the Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian-backed forces in Illovaisk. He told Insider that Russian forces continued to attack the steel plant even after Putin said he had canceled the assault.
Volyna said that the shelling has lessened a bit, but it continues. The enemy has an advantage in equipment, supplies, personnel, weapons, the ability to maneuver, sea and air.
Volyna, who has fought in Mariupol since Russia invaded in February, told Insider that hundreds of civilians are huddled with his forces inside the plant. Many are wounded and need medical attention. With Russia blocking the plant, those inside are being forced to choose between starvation and surrender to forces that have already killed civilians. Russia has tried many times to capture the fortified plant.
Similar plans to evacuate civilians from Mariupol have failed, despite talks between Russia and Ukraine. The civilians inside the steel plant are skeptical of the plan after seeing Russian forces attack residential buildings and a maternity ward.
He said that they don't trust the green corridors and that they don't trust the Russians. Volyna said that an extract was needed to be supervised by the international community.
He said it was possible to give life to the soldiers and civilians who have been under siege for 56 days.
Insider has a senior correspondent named Mattathias Schwartz.
Michael Fedynsky is an international development worker. He lives in Washington D.C.
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