‘Surrender is not an option’: Azov battalion commander in plea for help to escape Mariupol

Two thousand Ukrainian troops thought to be trapped inside steelworks after civilian evacuation

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Members of Ukraine's Azov battalion trapped inside Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant have said they fear they will be killed if captured by Russian forces, as they pleaded with Ukrainian authorities to help arrange their extraction.

Speaking to the media from inside the besieged steelworks, an Azov commander and lieutenant, looking gaunt and pale, said they had defended the city for the people of Ukraine and the rest of the world and needed a third party to negotiate their exit whether by land or sea.