[‘Woods’] 'Azovstal' was their main fortress, it's the hardest site to capture
[‘Woods’] A great one to defend,
but very challenging to launch an offensive against
[Pavel] On April 21, at night,
the 2nd Battalion received a command to move on 'Azovstal'
[Pavel] Everyone realised that we'd been gambled away
and were doomed
[Eduard] 'Azov' sowed fear...
fear and panic, people were scared, physically
[Irina] We couldn't use the toilet, you see?
[Irina] We'd go out at night, they saw from 9 floors up
and shot at our feet, we were living like dogs
[Yashat] Those who were sitting in 'Azovstal' are scum
[Yashat] Scum
[Yashat] I have no other word
[‘Woods’] The grip was tightening
[‘Woods’] Take a building, on to the next
[‘Woods’] The main goal was to push them all into the big workshops
[‘Woods’] Once they're in, you pummel them with planes
[Aleksandr] They're not homeland defenders, Mariupol 'Azovstal' cyborgs,
nothing like it
[Aleksandr] No, they're totally exhausted people
[Aleksandr] That will happen to them all
[Aleksandr] In the end, they'll surrender
[Eduard] All that media hype going round since 2014,
how they're ready to die for their idea and fight to the last,
turned out to be just that: pure hype
[Aleksandr] We're an army of victors, it's this army's karma
[Aleksandr] It must be victorious or we'll fail our ancestors
[Aleksandr] Ukraine has cast off that legacy
[title] AZOV’S LAST STAND
[voice] Receiving, 'Sailor'
[‘Sailor’] Anti-tank grenade detected
[voice] Destroy with a pressure charge, do you read?
[‘Sailor’] 'Sailor', received
[‘Varyag’] 'Sailor', this is 'Varyag'. Detonating
[Aleksandr] The 'Azov' fighters didn't think we'd drive them from residential areas
and make them run and hide in 'Azovstal'
[Aleksandr] If they hadn't planned to hide out in 'Azovstal',
we'd have wiped them out in the residential areas,
thrown them into the sea and crushed them
[‘Woods’] The objective was to block this exit
[‘Woods’] 'Azov' had two exits: one here, the other a little further away
[‘Woods’] They weren't linked to each other
[Aleksandr] They used tunnels to the river, we saw worn paths
[Aleksandr] They got water
[Aleksandr] We gradually cut them off and blocked all those routes
[Aleksandr] We exposed the tunnels they moved in
[Aleksandr] So, we mined or shelled them with precision weapons
to stop them using the tunnels
[Aleksandr] When we knew we'd blocked the last of those lifelines,
we saw very strong and aggressive resistance
[Aleksandr] They even tried to counter-attack
[voice2] A hit?
[voice3] A hit, a hit!
[‘Woods’] The day we took building 16, the enemy counter-attacked
[‘Woods’] It succeeded, but at one moment,
SOLDIER, ‘VOSTOK’ BATTALION, INTERIOR MINISTRY, DPR, CODENAME: ‘WOODS’
[‘Woods’] I don't know what 'Azov' was sniffing,
but they walked right into their own fire,
grenades right by them
[‘Woods’] No sane person risks being blown up by a friendly grenade
[‘Woods’] The chance of death is high
[‘Woods’] This facility was built back in Soviet times
[‘Woods’] It was designed as a shelter from nuclear warheads
[Aleksandr] Wide tunnels ran all round 'Azovstal' like arteries,
so they could move around easily
between the bomb shelters under almost every workshop
[Aleksandr] Some tunnels could be used to move full-size rail cars
[‘Woods’] Their fortified firing point...
[‘Woods’] They could shoot safely from here, there are niches too
[‘Woods’] Hide round a corner and keep firing
[‘Woods’] If they hadn't given in, we'd have stormed to get them out
[‘Woods’] At least, we could've got them with some flamethrower systems
[‘Woods’] It's a good position to use them
[‘Woods’] This is the entrance to the workspaces
[‘Woods’] So, that's an 'Azovstal' workshop
[‘Woods’] They had good firing points inside
[‘Woods’] Really good ones
[‘Woods’] It would've been very tough...
if we'd engaged
[Aleksandr] We developed a tactic that led to more enemy losses than for us
[Aleksandr] We forced them show themselves
so we could see their firing points
[Aleksandr] What escapes the human eye
can't hide from machines or drones with 28x lenses
[Aleksandr] We sat in front of big screens and scoured every spot and pixel
to learn where the enemy was. Of course, that's where we struck
[‘Woods’] There are a lot of outbuildings, small workshops
[‘Woods’] The small workshops were taken one by one
[‘Woods’] Our grip was tightening
[‘Woods’] We took a building, then moved to the next
[‘Woods’] The goal was to drive them into the big workshops
[‘Woods’] Once they're in, you pummel them with planes
[‘Woods’] Planes work to collapse and block the entrance
[‘Woods’] The fewer exits they have, the better
[‘Woods’] So they're left with just the basement
[Aleksandr] The place where they camped and concentrated
wasn't great for combat
[Aleksandr] A bomb shelter hides you from bombing,
but you can't fire or make a foxhole,
as it's deep underground
[Aleksandr] To fire a mortar, you need an open position
that we'd surely see with our drones
[Aleksandr] We fix coordinates quickly, then, as we say, let them have it
[GEO] SHELTER NO. 18189, THICK STEEL WORKSHOP
[‘Egor’] This is where they were stationed
[‘Egor’] It's more like a junkyard now
[‘Egor’] Nailed up phones, broken on purpose
[‘Egor’] They were watching the news about our advance,
SOLDIER, ‘VOSTOK’ BATTALION, INTERIOR MINISTRY, DPR, CODENAME: ‘EGOR’
about their defeats
[‘Egor’] And then...
[‘Egor’] They didn't want us to get any info
[‘Egor’] By the way...
here's more proof that they disguised themselves as civilians
[‘Egor’] To throw us off
[‘Egor’] Air filters...
[‘Egor’] They provide a clean air supply and handle radioactive dust too
[‘Woods’] They brought supplies here even before the war
[‘Woods’] They prepared field rations
and a couple of bases in the industrial area
[‘Woods’] 'Azovstal' was their main fortress
because it's the most difficult site to capture
[‘Woods’] A really great one to defend,
but a tough one for us to attack
[‘Egor’] A secret military map
[‘Egor’] That's Mariupol and nearby villages marked in red here
[‘Egor’] That's our base
[‘Egor’] This red arrow shows our allied advance on 'Azovstal'
[‘Egor’] Well... They got intel...
and Elon Musk gave them a satellite link,
the Internet, and so on
[‘Woods’] Let's see...
[‘Woods’] Yes!
[‘Woods’] Look!
[‘Woods’] Egorych. Here, he's a Ukrainian
[‘Woods’] A reservist
[‘Woods’] A bank card...
[‘Woods’] Photographs...
[‘Woods’] Registration...
[‘Woods’] Place of residence: Chernovtsy region,
[‘Woods’] Storozhinets district, village of Godylov, I'll take it
[‘Woods’] By all means, here
[‘Woods’] Burnt up grenade launchers, rifles, Utyos guns...
[‘Woods’] When a ceasefire was declared, we didn't open fire on them
[‘Woods’] We were in our positions
[‘Woods’] We heard blasts inside
[‘Woods’] Obviously, they were destroying stuff
to avoid leaving it for us
[‘Egor’] Possibly, it was evidence, maybe even of helpers there
[‘Woods’] Yes, foreign helpers for sure
[‘Egor’] This marking in English, 'Lee'...
shows that this is a weapon made by NATO
[‘Egor’] It's all burnt up, disassembled
[‘Egor’] A base plate
[‘Egor’] That's where a mortar was secured, in this hole
[‘Egor’] Spent .338 calibre shell casings...
also NATO-made
[‘Egor’] Suggesting that, up there,
they positioned a sniper, who fired over the workshop
[‘Woods’] Our task was to secure that building, remember?
[‘Egor’] - The sniper looked right at it [‘Woods’] - That's what he was targeting
[‘Woods’] Damn, look, Egorych
[‘Woods’] If we'd stormed it... Look, brick walls here and there
[‘Woods’] The first floor is completely intact
[‘Woods’] Not hit, only the 3rd floor is partly collapsed
[‘Woods’] Decent fighters could have held on to it for years,
but they soiled their pants, and surrendered
[soldier] Fortify well, and you can defend forever
[‘Woods’] They had it all: food, water...
[‘Woods’] The only problem they had was with medicine
[‘Woods’] Many of the wounded who left 'Azovstal'
were extremely tired
[‘Woods’] Many had gangrene
[‘Woods’] They were very short of medicine
[‘Woods’] Maybe that's what forced them to surrender
[Eduard] One condition was that there should be no filming
EDUARD BASURIN, DEPUTY HEAD, PEOPLE’S MILITIA COMMAND, DPR
[Eduard] Ukraine imposed that condition assuming
the soldiers or civilians in the facility
could be accused of crimes
[Eduard] This way no one would know who they were,
so no charges could be brought against them
[voice3] - Full name and position [Sergey] - Sergey Yaroslavovich Volynsky
[Sergey] Commander, 36th Marine Brigade
MAJOR SERGEY VOLYNSKY, CODENAME 'VOLYNA'
[Eduard] There were demands that they go to a third country
or be granted safe passage to Ukraine, escorted by
the Red Cross and UN
[Eduard] They made a lot of demands
[Eduard] Russia did not give way
[Eduard] They came out unarmed and surrendered
KATERINA POLISHCHUK, CODENAME: 'BIRDIE'
[Aleksandr] They're not homeland defenders, Mariupol 'Azovstal' cyborgs,
nothing like it
[Aleksandr] No, they're totally exhausted people
[Aleksandr] That will happen to them all
[Aleksandr] In the end, they'll surrender
[Aleksandr] Better that than rot and die
ALEKSANDR KHODAKOVSKY, FOUNDER, ‘VOSTOK’ BATTALION
with no burial and to be eaten by dogs or crows
[Aleksandr] We've shown the Ukrainian side
that we don't cut heads off
[Aleksandr] We don't shoot legs
[Yashat] Come on in, we will have a chat
[Yashat] The other side, by the door
[Yashat] Come in like decent, proper guests, come in on that side
[Irina] - March 6th... [Yashat] - March 6, was the first arrival
[Irina] - The first was behind the garages [Yashat] - I'll show you
[Irina] They saw people cooking here, as we had no gas
[Yashat] - I'll show you [Irina] - He'll show you everything
[Irina] It came from there, from 'Azovstal', the b******s
[Yashat] That is what's called Section 6
[Yashat] 'Azovstal's' gates are 300-400 metres away...
[Yashat] Only civilians lived here
[Yashat] We cooked in ovens here
[Yashat] We had an oven here, and another over there
[Yashat] There were people here, more over there
[Yashat] A 'Banderamobile' came up on that side
[Yashat] That's the embankment
[Yashat] That's the main road, behind you
[Yashat] It stopped, saw a crowd here, and drove on
[Yashat] Literally 2 minutes later, a mortar came flying in just here
[Yashat] A 'Banderamobile', picture it
[Yashat] That's a pickup covered by a tent
with a mortar tube sticking out the top
[Yashat] It was always driving around here along the embankment
[Yashat] Until it got hit!
[Irina] 'Azov' heavily shelled us on March 6,
and the roof blew off
[Irina] Everything began to lean, people rushed out in shock, screaming,
with no idea where to run
[Irina] Garages collapsed
[Irina] We saw that
[Irina] We lived in the basement until April 19
[Irina] We came out on April 19
[Irina] We couldn't even use the toilet
[Irina] We'd go out at night, they saw from 9 floors up
and shot bullets at our feet so we couldn't use the toilet
[Irina] We were living like dogs
[Irina] And nobody, not the mayor, no one cared about us
[Irina] Mother of God!
[Yashat] The shells came from that side, from 'Azovstal'
[Yashat] Why? Because there was a vehicle there, inside a garage
[Yashat] It was damaged by shrapnel
[Yashat] However, it was gas-powered, and the gas ignited
[Yashat] A big fire started, and there was a lot of black smoke
[Yashat] 'Azov' thought they'd hit some military transport,
so they started shelling. They destroyed these garages,
including my car. There it is... my car!
[Yashat] We were getting the car ready to get out of here!
[Yashat] But 'Azov' didn't allow us to leave
[Yashat] When they saw any movement, they started shooting instantly
[Yashat] Our stuff was there, packed in the car and ready to go
[Yashat] Everything burned up with the vehicle!
[Irina] We had no daylight till the 19th when the Russians came
[Irina] We're grateful. If not for them, we might have been shot
because the Ukrainians were hiding in our basement
[Irina] They wanted to flee through the reeds
[Irina] They were from Zaporozhye, Odessa, and Rovno Region
[Irina] The guy from Western Ukraine was quite strident
[Irina] He said, 'All these damned Russians must be killed'
[Irina] We offered coffee and stuff to pacify them
[Irina] We had to save our lives. We had kids with us
[Irina] When leaving, they asked for directions to 'Azovstal'
[Irina] We showed them the way
[Irina] 40 minutes later, the Russian National Guard appeared
[Irina] We greeted them with tears in our eyes
[Irina] They said, 'We're following them...
[Irina] We didn't know you were hiding in basements here'
[Irina] They were shocked that 'Azov' had blocked the humanitarian corridors
[Irina] And they evacuated us
[Yashat] Those barricaded in 'Azovstal' are scum...
[Yashat] Scum!
[Yashat] I've no other word for them
[Yashat] There used to be shops down there
[Yashat] They broke into them, took what they wanted,
and then it was a free-for-all!
[Yashat] There was a big mall full of jewellery, gold and silver,
electronics, and everything. They took what they needed,
and told their comrades to come and take what was left
[Irina] My neighbour left with the 'Azov' fighters
[Irina] She stayed there with her child in the catacombs
[Irina] She should've stayed with us
[Irina] You see, as it turned out...
later there were food and water issues
[Irina] It was OK at the beginning. They give us food…
[Irina] Then it disappeared
[Irina] Her daughter ran to and fro, taking food from here to there
[Irina] She said there was no food there!
[Irina] Maybe they don't give them food, or use them as human shields?
[Eduard] This is a Soviet era steel plant
[Eduard] It features catacombs that could be used during a nuclear war
EDUARD BASURIN, DEPUTY HEAD, PEOPLE’S MILITIA COMMAND, DPR
[Eduard] They were built for sheltering people
[Eduard] They stretched several floors underground
[Eduard] They also had communications
[Eduard] Built of Soviet-grade concrete, they were impregnable
[soldier2] We're now going through a tunnel: an underground hideout
for 'Azov' militants, the Ukrainian National Guard,
and 36th Marine Brigade
[soldier2] They have signs here
[soldier2] This one says 'Shelter', an arrow indicating '80 metres'
[soldier2] This is the tunnel they lived in
[soldier2] Here's a special arrow pointing to a further passage
[soldier2] They had a kind of kitchen. There's a makeshift stove
[soldier2] They prepared food here
[soldier2] There's some food left
[Eduard] 'Azov' took food and water there in advance
[Eduard] 'Azovstal' would be their last stand,
so they all retreated there
[soldier2] This is their underground base
[soldier2] Double bunk beds...
[soldier2] Lots of clothes, military and civilian
[soldier2] Maybe a woman used to sleep here,
because it's made up
[soldier2] As for their jobs, when they surrendered,
they all said they were medics, cooks, or radio operators
[soldier2] They never mentioned any female snipers or engineers!
[soldier2] It's such a mess! They trashed the place
[soldier2] But they left the Ukrainian flag behind
[soldier2] We don't act like them
[soldier2] We don't destroy stuff!
[soldier2] It's what makes us different
[soldier2] Stacks of gas masks here, maybe they thought we'd gas them
[soldier2] They had respiratory protective equipment,
but it wasn't necessary
[soldier2] Look what they did to PCs and gadgets
[soldier2] They smashed them, ripped out drives,
to make data unrecoverable
[soldier2] They did it to every gadget
[soldier2] Here are makeshift beds
that they built and dragged here
[soldier2] I suspect their toilet was here
[soldier2] Sometimes they couldn't go out
because the artillery and the Air Force were pinning them down,
so they stayed inside
[soldier2] Everyone wants to save their skin!
[UAF Soldier] Hells bells!
[soldier3] These are body bags
[soldier3] There are bags like these at every base, many of them!
[soldier3] They anticipated heavy casualties and knew they'd have
to work out how to take their dead from the battlefield
[soldier3] At one base, we found death certificates in 2 thick folders
[Eduard] 'Azov' is a political structure rooted all over Ukraine
[Eduard] Mariupol was their HQ
[Eduard] But they're in other Ukrainian cities,
all over the country, so there are still many left to finish off
[soldier2] This crate contains small arms munitions, these are shells
[soldier2] We don't know what's in these jars, we haven't looked
[soldier2] Might be booby-trapped. We decided not to touch them
[soldier2] Speaking of booby-traps, here's one they left for us:
a plastic case that opens 180 degrees,
and one 200g TNT block
[soldier2] There are 5.45 cartridges attached to it
[soldier2] We didn't pick it up
[soldier2] There might be a triggering mechanism under this device
[soldier2] Here's another one of their other makeshift bombs
[soldier2] Cans for small arms ammo,
AGS-17 grenade launcher rounds
each containing plastic explosives
[soldier2] Underneath them are 400, 200, and 75 gram TNT blocks
[soldier2] Some cans also contain grenades
[soldier2] They made them all but didn't have time to use them
[soldier2] We'll destroy the booby-traps right here
by blowing them up with a pressure charge
[Yury] We're at one of the three facilities,
YURY SIROVATKO, JUSTICE MINISTER, DPR
where prisoners of war are being held
[Yury] At this facility, we have prisoners from 'Azovstal'
[Yury] We have 2,300 people here, including 86 women,
3 of whom are nurses, I think
[Yury] There are radio operators and a sniper
[Yury] Some hadn't eaten for 3 days. They'd run out of water
[Yury] Naturally, they were in poor health
[Yury] Paramedics were on duty around the clock for almost a week
as we brought them in
[Yury] After 'Azovstal', living conditions aren't bad, not 5-Star of course
[Yury] Our task is to sustain them,
feed, water, and treat them,
and show that, unlike them,
we don't shoot, beat, or torture people
[Yury] We check files and search them, and identify them all
[Vladislav] I specialise in the humanities, and social sciences
[Vladislav] I give lectures to soldiers
[Vladislav] Codename: 'Associate Professor'
[Vladislav] I'm a Doctor of Philosophy
VLADISLAV DUTCHAK, CODENAME: ‘ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR’
[correspondent] So, you indoctrinated 'Azov' conscripts?
[Vladislav] No...
[Vladislav] I gave lectures on world military history
and Ukraine's military history
purely from an academic point of view
[Vladislav] I also taught soldiers critical thinking
[Vladislav] I'm not ashamed at all
[Vladislav] Even if I have something to repent,
it has nothing to do with my military service
[Yury] 'Azov' prisoners are different from the rest
[Yury] When we brought them in,
they all had loads of money on them:
dollars, euros, hryvnias, and stacks of gold jewellery,
with price tags... You see?
[Yury] Was it given away at 'Azovstal'? Work it out yourself!
[Yury] That's why Mariupol citizens hate 'Azov'!
ANDREY IGNATYUK, CODENAME: ‘SPIDER’
[correspondent] Were you up to your elbows in blood at that time?
[Andrey] How can you measure that?
[Andrey] I was serving, mostly in a humanitarian capacity
[Andrey] I was at the front for a bit, at the start, but that's it
[correspondent] - Have you fired a weapon? [Andrey] - No!
[correspondent] - No? [Andrey] - No
[Yury] I think everyone will confess eventually
given the evidence our investigators have
[Yury] Over the 8 years, it wasn't just 100s,
but 1,000s of atrocities and crimes that were committed
[Yury] It's all documented:
civilian deaths, houses and cities destroyed...
criminal cases have been opened
[Yury] They won't all remain in Mariupol
[Yury] According to DPR laws, 'Azov' members are criminals,
who will face life imprisonment, or even the death penalty
[Yury] It's for the courts now. They're no longer POWs
[Yury] They are accused of real crimes,
and so the court will now decide their fate
[Tatyana] - Please, come in! [correspondent] - You're smiling! That's good
[Tatyana] I'm smiling because I ate such a delicious thing
that I've been dreaming about for six months!
[Tatyana] I haven't eaten anything like it for ages
[Tatyana] It's my weakness, halva! Understand?
[correspondent] - Someone brought you halva? [Tatyana] - Yes...
[Tatyana] And two bags of chocolate chip oatmeal biscuits
[Tatyana] Anyway, I really enjoyed it
[Tatyana] I had no idea I could eat something like that these days
[Tatyana] And since I don't have a single penny, I don't have anything
[Tatyana] I get to eat whatever the soldiers give me
[Tatyana] That's about it
[Tatyana] Come on in! Come this way
[Tatyana] This is what those...
'Azov' men did
[Tatyana] Damn them to hell!
[Tatyana] See what they did!
[Tatyana] They made everyone sit in the basement
[Tatyana] If you tried to climb the stairs,
they'd fire a shell!
[Tatyana] All you could do was lie low
[Tatyana] You lie there for a day, two, three, four, five, six days...
[Tatyana] I didn't eat or drink
[Tatyana] I didn't go anywhere because shells kept landing
[Tatyana] Then you look around: everything is destroyed!
[Tatyana] Once, an 'Azov' commander came here
[Tatyana] He told me to get out
[Tatyana] I climbed one step,
then the second,
but it was too hard for me
[Tatyana] My stomach was contracting violently with hunger
[Tatyana] I felt dizzy, and he kept saying, 'Hurry, get out!'
[Tatyana] I said I couldn't. I was hungry, and that I hadn't eaten in six days
[Tatyana] He said he was thirsty and hungry too
[Tatyana] Then he just left!
[Tatyana] That 'Azov' commander said I was a separatist
[Tatyana] I couldn't understand why he said that
[Tatyana] Then I realised there were red stars on the gates
[Tatyana] My grandfather was a communist
[Tatyana] The Banderites saw it and thought I was a separatist
[Tatyana] They were going to give me the third degree!
[Tatyana] Then he waved like this at me through the window
[Tatyana] I understood what he wanted to do
[Tatyana] I could see his movements. But his rifle was pretty heavy
[Tatyana] While he was raising it, I bent over like this,
and then shards of glass
flew all over the veranda and me
[Tatyana] Then soldiers from the other side came. 'We're your guys!' they said
[Tatyana] They came in and hugged me, called me 'Granny'
[Tatyana] They said: 'Let's have some tea. We'll give you some tins of food'
[Tatyana] I was shocked. I thought I was dreaming
[Tatyana] Have a look at the basement
[Tatyana] I still live here because I'm scared of the looters
[Tatyana] Come on down and see how I live here
[Tatyana] This is my bed
[Tatyana] This is where I sleep
[Tatyana] And these are the groceries they brought me
[Tatyana] Thanks! God bless them! I have something to eat now
[Tatyana] This is how we cope here
[Tatyana] Thank God, the soldiers left me some water,
so I have something to drink now
[Tatyana] But there's no bread
[Tatyana] I'm already sharing it with my kitty,
and there's only one little piece left now
[Tatyana] Oh God!
[Tatyana] God forbid that anyone else will have to live through this
[Pavel] It's true that, in Mariupol, we drove residents into big cellars
that could house a lot of people
[Pavel] As for the green corridors, from the 24th to the 10th,
it was forbidden to let anyone into or out of Mariupol
[correspondent] By whom?
[Pavel] The order came from the high command
PAVEL ILNITSKY, ‘AZOV’ REGIMENT, 2D BATTALION
[Pavel] We had no idea what we were doing
until we were ordered to gather in Mariupol
[Pavel] Then everyone realised we'd been sacrificed in a card game
because we knew Berdyansk had been taken
and the enemy was advancing on Kherson
and may have already captured it
[Pavel] So, Mariupol was practically surrounded
[Pavel] We turned into a kind of guerrilla unit
that bites at a superior enemy force
[Pavel] And, in all this, we were really only doing harm to the city,
because any house you occupied or ran by
would be hit sooner or later
[Pavel] There were a lot of units in the city that didn't engage in combat,
like the police and National Guard
[Pavel] They abandoned a frightening quantity
of weapons and equipment
[Pavel] Most was brought to 'Azovstal' while it was still possible
[Pavel] On the night of April 20 to 21,
the entire 2nd battalion received an order to go to 'Azovstal'
[Pavel] Then we heard 'incoming' and the sound of a drone,
and mortar shelling began
[Pavel] The group hid in one house, and I in another
[Pavel] 30 min later, I looked out, shouted, looked around...
[Pavel] There was no one, they hadn't waited for me
[Pavel] 7 don't wait for 1, they'd left
[Pavel] I didn't know the city, as I hadn't served in Mariupol
[Pavel] I hid my gun, body armour, helmet, and ran into a cellar
[Pavel] Some locals were hiding in the cellars
[Pavel] I found a non-military worker's uniform
[Pavel] I changed into the overalls and tried to leave the city
[Pavel] I headed towards our positions
[Pavel] I walked a long time, about a week
[Pavel] I saw a patrol of two DPR soldiers
[Pavel] Without raising their guns,
they asked me why I'd avoided the checkpoint
[Pavel] I said I was on the run, but I'd run enough
[Pavel] I took off my backpack and gear
and said: 'I'll tell you everything! I surrender, I'm physically spent'
[Pavel] I paid all my dues to the Ukrainian government in those 8 years
[Pavel] Now, it owes me and my family
for every grey hair on my wife's head
[Pavel] They owe me for that bloody half year of s**t work in 'Azov'
[Pavel] Everyone's been captured, except those who died
[Pavel] I don't know if anyone got out, I really doubt it
[Pavel] Because even as an experienced soldier,
[Pavel] I was physically unable to walk
[Pavel] 250-300 km through enemy territory... It's extremely hard
[Pavel] There are no big forests, just fields, nothing to eat
[Pavel] It was a difficult spring
[Pavel] The locals' attitudes are 50/50,
so you never know if they'll report you or not
[Pavel] It's probably impossible, so I suspect they're all POWs by now
[soldier4] These crosses mark the structures that were to be blown up
to block the passages if our troops broke through to them
[soldier4] They tried to destroy that bridge
[soldier4] The corner of the structure was blown off
[soldier4] So, they expected the whole thing to come crashing down
[soldier4] This is a blast-furnace shop
[soldier4] There are huge halls underneath for cleaning the blast furnaces
[soldier4] They holed up here under our bombardment
[soldier4] It's almost impossible to penetrate this
[soldier4] Despite all our bombing,
only some of the lower metal structures collapsed, but not all
[soldier4] They could've held out for a long time
[soldier4] New recruits were driven in and dispersed underground
[soldier4] There are tunnels running in almost all directions,
so you can get out
[soldier5] This is the refrigerator where they were stored
[soldier5] We had to examine each body, as there were surprises
[correspondent] - Were they booby-trapped? [soldier5] - Not all
[soldier5] The very first ones below were
[soldier5] The ones they put in front
[soldier5] This vehicle with military plates
is registered to the 'Azov' Regiment
[soldier5] Its refrigerator is specially designed to store corpses
[soldier5] To get them out, we had to clear the rubble
and break through some metal, so special vehicles could get in
[soldier5] Then we were able to pull out and evacuate
the dead 'Azov' and SBU fighters, marines, and so on
[soldier5] Then we paid last respects and buried them
[Eduard] The 'Azov' fighters didn't come out to the surface often
EDUARD BASURIN, DEPUTY HEAD, PEOPLE’S MILITIA COMMAND, DPR
[Eduard] Some militants came out,
but the commanders sat in a separate bunker
controlling the situation
[Eduard] Anyone who disobeyed was shot
[soldier6] Empty your pockets here
[soldier6] Show me your elbow
[soldier6] - Any on the back? [‘Azov’ Regiment] - No
[Aleksandr] They didn't have 'Azov' or 'UAF' stamped on their foreheads
when they came out,
so we had to work with them to find out
ALEKSANDR KHODAKOVSKY, FOUNDER, ‘VOSTOK’ BATTALION
[Aleksandr] They all claimed to be cooks, horse breeders, water carriers...
[Aleksandr] They all said they'd played non-combat roles
[Aleksandr] The first thing that tipped us off were tattoos
proving they supported neo-fascist or neo-Nazi ideologies
[soldier6] 'Kill them all'... Who are the 'all' you plan to kill?
[soldier6] - What city are you from? [David] – Mariupol
DAVID KASATKIN, CODENAME: ‘CHEMIST’
[soldier6] Any other tattoos?
[soldier6] Pull up your sleeve
ANTON KOROLYOV
[Eduard] When they realised they'd been dumped,
and life seemed worth more than an idea,
they put up their hands and came out
[Eduard] Frankly, few expected them to surrender in the end
[Eduard] But the media hype going around since 2014,
how they're ready to die for their idea
and would never negotiate with the enemy,
and fight to the last,
turned out to be just that: pure hype
[Marina] I thought there would be at least something left
[Sergey] This is my building
[Sergey] This is my garage, where we hid
[Sergey] We stayed in the service pit
[Sergey] So, we ran just in time
[Marina] I don't understand… Is this our building?
[Natalya] Lord God!
[Natalya] Unrecognisable...
[Sergey] It's OK
[Sergey] We're alive
[Marina] Your things are gone
[Sergey] Marina, what things?
[Sergey] We're safe and sound, all's OK
[Sergey] That's our balcony
[Natalya] I see the balcony, I see it all, my God!
[Natalya] That son of a b***h Zelensky! I hate him!
[Sergey] Easy, easy
[Natalya] My God!
[Natalya] We're left with nothing, it's all blown to smithereens
[Sergey] We're alive, alive!
[Natalya] I wish Zelensky and Biden would be driven here, into this pit,
and kept there
[Natalya] They've beggared so many people!
[Natalya] We had a little child with us
[Natalya] We ate crackers and had no water for a long time
[Natalya] The Chechens helped us with food
[Natalya] Russian soldiers brought water and food
[Natalya] We thank them very much
[Natalya] I don't know how we would've survived
[Natalya] When you sit in a cellar
and hear shells flying over you endlessly…
[Natalya] 15 shells flew by per hour
[Natalya] I looked at the little child and was afraid she wouldn't stand it
[Natalya] My husband had heart pains
[Natalya] My daughter got sick, I didn't know what to do or who to save
[Sergey] Her arm was jerking
[Sergey] The mayor was evacuated in a fire engine
[Natalya] He fled
[Sergey] B*****d
[Natalya] They considered us traitors
[Natalya] How are we traitors if we stayed here?
[Natalya] We cooked over a fire the first 3 days here, and that was it...
[Natalya] What fire? What fire?
[Natalya] As soon as you left the garage, they saw there were people here
[Sergey] When they went by, they saw the fire
[Sergey] Then they went over there and pummelled us
[Natalya] - The shelling started again... [Sergey] - ...non-stop
[Sergey] The Russians weren't here yet
[Sergey] It was a good thing a plane came and hit their firing points
[Sergey] That silenced their weapons for a time
[Sergey] Our granddaughter and elder daughter would hide,
and we'd hug and wait, so we'd be together if...
[Sergey] They shelled us with mortars from over there
[Natalya] When 'Azov' was fleeing, they lifted everything
[Natalya] I mean stole
[Sergey] - They stole cars to escape [Natalya] - They didn't take ours
because it was hit by shrapnel while we were driving,
and its windows were smashed, so they didn't want it
[Natalya] Thanks to that, we still have a car
[Sergey] They were looking for good cars, and mine's a 'Zhiguli'
[correspondent] When you heard they were taken prisoners, how did you feel?
[Natalya] Relieved... It was a relief to know they were no longer in the city
[Sergey] We felt that all this would finally soon end
[Natalya] We just wanted peace and quiet,
and, as I said...
just really wanted to return home
[Sergey] A lot
[Eduard] When the trials are held
and the prosecutors and witnesses
of those crimes are heard,
[Eduard] I think people's blood will run cold
[Eduard] I hope they all get what they deserve
[Aleksandr] As for the nationalists
who committed crimes against civilians,
they should also be held accountable
to the 100s and maybe 1,000s of brainwashed young men
whose minds they filled with that ideology
[Aleksandr] They need to be punished for trying to restore and recultivate
what our grandfathers and great grandfathers tried to eradicate
[‘Egor’] They should be made to work for the good of our homeland...
the land they were systematically destroying all those 8 years...
for the sake of those whose relatives died due to shelling or tyranny
SOLDIER, ‘VOSTOK’ BATTALION, INTERIOR MINISTRY, DPR, CODENAME: ‘EGOR’
[Yashat] The 'Azov' militants deserve execution,
but death not by firing squad, but by hanging,
because they're not real soldiers
[Yashat] A soldier deserves a bullet, but they deserve a humiliating death
[Yashat] That may seem too emotional, but that's my opinion
[Yashat] Were they in my place, they'd probably say worse
[Yashat] That's it!