Unlike Azovstal, this one specializes in chemical production, but past this point, the fate currently being suffered by the hundreds of Ukrainians who have taken refuge in the huge Azot factory in Severodonetsk seems in all respects similar to the he hell experienced by the civilians and soldiers entrenched for weeks in the Mariupol steelworks. Supplies impossible, necessary care not provided, and the will to resist intact on the part of the soldiers present, guided by the example of their compatriots from the Azov regiment of Mariupol, today prisoners of the Russians.
For Moscow to control the entire city of Severodonetsk, located in the heart of the Donbass, in the Luhansk oblast, it is necessary, as was the case in Mariupol, a southern port city, for the last pocket of resistance to break out. But, for the second time, the Russian army finds itself blocked on the threshold of victory. So, again, she bombards the industrial complex with intensity, caring little that it harbors highly chemical products. There too, she calls on the last Ukrainian soldiers to cease their “absurd” resistance. But still unable to enter the underground corridors without risking being killed, the Russians must wait, as in Azovstal, and grant some concessions in order to hasten the moment of surrender. On the Ukrainian side, there is no hope of success, but lives to be saved, those of the hundreds of civilians trapped in the factory halls. According to Moscow, there would be 300 to 400. At least 800 for kyiv.
For Zelensky, the future of Donbass is played out in Severodonetsk
A few words about the factory: a giant complex, a series of industrial buildings spread over 6 km², two less than Azovstal, but still a third of the total area of the city of Severodonetsk. Owned by the company PrJSC, which specializes in the production of nitrogen fertilizers, it employed, until February 24, 6,700 people. Today, it serves as a survival bunker.
As a ray of hope, Russia set up, this Wednesday, June 15, a humanitarian corridor allowing the evacuation of civilians, but only to territories it controls, which it had already tried to do in Mariupol , and that Ukraine had not accepted. This time again, kyiv has not confirmed an agreement, and it is very likely that at the end of this day, many inhabitants of Severodonetsk remain in hiding. The NGO Amnesty International is alarmed and calls for immediate coordination between the two parties. By destroying the last bridge linking the city to the rest of the country, Russia showed that it wanted to be sole master of the negotiation, but Volodymyr Zelensky having declared that the future of Donbass was at stake in the resistance of the soldiers of Severodonetsk, the last forces present could well, this time, decide to fight until the end.