Russian ‘incendiary phosphorus bombs’ rain down on the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol

An aerial video posted to social media on Sunday showed the attack on the plant, where Ukrainian soldiers have been making a final stand against the

On Sunday, Ukraine accused Russian forces of dumping phosphorus bombs on Mariupol’s Azovstal steel mill, while the relatives of the fighters besieged within the enormous complex expressed concern that their struggle may be over.

An overhead video released to social media on Sunday showed the attack on the factory, where Ukrainian soldiers were making a last stand against Russia’s assault on the port city, which had been reduced to ruins.

Mariupol, in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area, is under Russian control after weeks of siege and bombing, but hundreds of Ukrainian fighters are holding out at the steel plant under heavy fire.

A number of civilians who were sheltering in the plant were evacuated this month with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN.

‘Sparks’ – which are actually a grouping of incendiary munitions – fall to the ground and ignite. From a distance, the explosions look almost like fire crackers, but in reality are a series of countless detonations.

As the camera pans out, more bursts of munitions are seen erupting over the plant, raining flaming explosives down from above.

The attack is unrelenting, with hundreds of the sparks landing on the roofs and grounds of the steel works and setting them alight.

Ukrainians claimed the video showed Vladimir Putin’s forces dropping 9M22S incendiary and phosphorus bombs on Azovstal, that an official said burn at temperatures of over 2,000 degrees Celsius.

‘The Russian military themselves claim that 9M22S incendiary shells with thermite layers were used,’ said the Ukrainians.

‘The combustion temperature is about 2,000 to 2,500 degrees Celsius. It is almost impossible to stop the burning,’ Petr Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said on Sunday.

The video was released as the wives and mothers of Ukrainian defenders still inside the steel plant told Sky News that they feared the fighting was coming to an end.

Natalya Zarytska, who married her husband Bohdan in an online ceremony in April, told the broadcaster that he is ‘in real hell’.

‘He has lost more than 20 kilos in weight. He looks very bad and is in a terrible condition,’ she said, adding: ‘I think that this is the end.’

She showed the last photo that he had sent her, saying that his face was yellow. Ms Zarytska said her husband told her the defensive perimeter around the steep factory was getting ‘thinner’. ‘The end will be soon,’ she said.

On whether she would see her husband again, she told Sky News: ‘Yes I hope so. In my mind I think there is no chance but in my heart I feel that we can save them.’

A woman, who told the broadcaster her name was Svetlana, said she was certain she would see her son again, despite the odds of the fighters in Azovstal surviving looking increasingly desperate.

‘Of course. I have to see him. He is my son and he needs to come back. He knows I am waiting for him. Of course, no doubt. I have no doubts,’ she said.

The Azov Sea port of Mariupol is now largely in Russian control, except for the few hundred troops left in the steel factory.

A convoy of between 500 and 1,000 cars carrying civilians out of the city was reportedly able to reach the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, while Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said authorities were negotiating the evacuation of 60 severely wounded troops at the steelworks.

Fresh off his country’s Eurovision song contest victory, a defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed early Sunday to one day host the song contest in the embattled city of Mariupol.

Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won the popular contest with its song ‘Stefania,’ which has become a popular anthem among Ukrainians during the war, and its victory was a morale booster.

‘Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe,’ Zelensky said on Facebook. ‘Next year, Ukraine will host Eurovision!’

The band made an impassioned plea during the show to help the fighters in the steel plant, and Zelensky said ‘one day’ the contest would be held ‘in a Ukrainian Mariupol.’