Azov Regiment: Decomposing bodies poison everything, many soldiers killed every day

Alyona Mazurenko – Monday, 9 May 2022, 01:58

Sviatoslav Palamar, Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment, has said that Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal steel works do not even know how many of their fellow soldiers have been buried under the rubble after Russian bombardments; with warmer weather, their bodies have begun to decompose, poisoning everything around them.

Source: Sviatoslav Palamar in a BBC News Ukraine interview

Quote from Palamar: "The situation is very difficult. There is no ceasefire. We don’t know whether we will be able to evacuate the wounded today. Negotiations are underway, but it is difficult to say whether Russia will fulfill its part of the agreements.

The wounded have to be evacuated as soon as possible. Today [8 May] more people have been killed and wounded. We no longer have any surgical instruments. We are not able to offer qualified medical assistance…

I won’t say how many [soldiers] have been killed. Believe me, we are talking about hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers. Nearly 600 soldiers are wounded. But this number grows every day, as does the number of those killed…

Our servicemen are dying every day from serious wounds. We don’t have enough antibiotics, bandaging materials, we don’t have access to fresh air. Our hospital is under constant bombardment.

We have a lot of people with shell-shock. Many people have been killed in bombardments. It is truly catastrophic…

I believe that the Russian side also has to collect their dead soldiers. We need a ceasefire and a mutual agreement regarding the retrieval of the bodies of the dead. It is already warm outside now. The dead bodies are beginning to decompose and poison everything around them."

Details: Palamar added that the wounded soldiers at Azovstal are mostly dying from gangrene because their wounds have become infected. There are not enough antibiotics in the hospital, and there is no equipment to conduct amputations.

According to Palamar, the politicians’ claims of a "successful" evacuation from Azovstal are quite "cynical," because the evacuation took the lives of at least 3 Ukrainian soldiers and wounded 6 more.

In addition, the Azov Deputy Commander said that the defenders of Mariupol had been promised help several times, but have seen no change.

Palamar described the actions of Ukrainian defenders as "impossible feats under impossible circumstances", like fighting against tanks with bar knives in their hands.

Quote from Palamar: "The most cynical thing is that we’re constantly being promised something: ‘Boys, hold out until mid-March and there will be help’ – and then nothing. ‘Hold out until April and everything will be okay, fine’ – and again nothing.

We hope that with the help of journalists and politicians – not all of them, but those who are really trying to help – we will be able to convince the world, the UN to organise the evacuation of the wounded and possibly the extraction of the military garrison which remains here."

More details: Palamar added that some days they only have one meal a day, and sometimes days go by without any food at all: "We are trying to make what we have last, we share food. We still have some drinking water. We also have technical water which we can boil and drink."

He also said that Russian aircraft and ships continue to bombard the positions of Ukrainian troops defending Mariupol, but they have no means to repulse the enemy.

Background:

• Mariupol has been besieged by Russian troops since 1 March.
• Soldiers defending Mariupol are currently in the bunkers of the Azovstal steel works. Last week, women, children, and elderly people were evacuated from the steel works. The government hopes to evacuate medics and the wounded next.