When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, one of their first targets was Mariupol, an important port city on the Sea of Azov and vital to Russian plans to establish a land bridge connecting Russia with Crimea. In the initial days of the assault, ground forces advanced while artillery bombarded the city. Within a week Mariupol was surrounded and the besieged Ukrainian defenders in the city cut off.
Despite being outnumbered by their adversaries, and with the siege compounding shortages in equipment and ammunition, the Ukrainian forces held out for three months. Amid waves of attacks and counterattacks, Ukrainian forces defended a shrinking perimeter with a command post in the Azovstal steel plant. One of the Ukrainian soldiers who was there was Sergeant Arseniy Fedosiuk. MWI’s John Spencer had the opportunity to speak to him about his experience in Mariupol, and you’ll hear part of that discussion in this episode.
The MWI Podcast is produced through an endowment generously funded by the West Point Class of 1974. You can listen to this episode of the podcast below, and if you aren’t already subscribed, be sure to find it on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. The full conversation from which this episode is drawn was also released by the Urban Warfare Project Podcast. You can find that episode here and listen as Fedosiuk recounts even more of the combat he experienced and describes the end of the battle, after which he was held as a Russian prisoner for seven months.
Note: This episode was originally released in 2023.
Image credit: armyinform.com.ua, via Wikimedia Commons
