Haunting video of children under siege at Mariupol steelworks in Ukraine. / Video: The Telegraph
As the torches of the Ukrainian soldiers shone on their pale figures, the children's faces lit up.
For more than 50 days, hundreds of civilians have been hiding in makeshift living quarters deep inside Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks, with no sunlight, dwindling supplies of food, and missiles raining down around them.
"We all really want to return home, we want to return home alive, we want to see our loved ones," said one young boy, wearing a thick jumper.
But the troops could not provide a safe passage out. Instead, they could only offer sweets, fistbumps and encouraging words.
The footage was filmed on Thursday, when Vladimir Putin declared that Mariupol had been conquered and that the steel complex would be blockaded "so that not even a fly can get through."
But on Saturday, Russian forces changed their tactics, launching more missile strikes and attempting to storm the sprawling site. Communications from inside are now few and far between.
"The enemy is trying to strangle the final resistance of Mariupol's defenders," said Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych on Saturday.
Officials said that an attempt to safely evacuate civilians through a humanitarian corridor had been "thwarted" by Russia, who instead tried to bus them into Russian-controlled territory.
The steelworks is one of the largest in Europe, set over four square miles, with a maze of underground tunnels and bunkers, and has been home to more than 1000 terrified Mariupol residents since not long after the Russian invasion began on February 24.
One young girl said she left her house with her mother and grandmother on February 27 and sought shelter at the facility.
A military ammunition left over from the clashes is seen on the road to the village of Kukhari in the Borodyanka region of Ukraine on April 22, 2022. Photo / Getty
"After that we saw neither the sky, nor the sun. I really want to get out of here so that it is safe, so that no one is hurt and live in safety."
Inside, a cramped, cold, dark room, large signs saying "Children" in red paint are seen on the walls. One woman, who is not named, is heard saying more than 15 children - from babies to those aged 14 - are sheltering there.
"We want to get out of here as soon as possible," said another girl.
"Thank you to the military, who constantly come to us and bring food. Thank you for your support."
The complex has also served as the base for Ukraine's Azov battalion, which has launched a stoic defence of the city in the face of enormous Russian bombardment. The regiment is controversial, born out of a far-right movement in 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea.
Now though, they are being portrayed as humanitarians, helping civilians, while fending off the Russian invaders.
Russian forces have besieged and bombarded Mariupol since the early days of the war, leaving a city that is usually home to more than 400,000 people in ruins.
Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that the US was preparing a so-called "false flag" incident so that it could accuse Russia of using a chemical weapon to kill the last few hundred Ukrainian soldiers defending the steel works.
Western intelligence agencies have previously warned that Moscow would use a "false flag" incident to justify using a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon.
For Russia, the capture of Mariupol is seen as a key step in preparations for any eastern assault since it would free Russian troops up for that new campaign.
The fall of the city on the Sea of Azov would also hand Russia its biggest victory of the war, giving it full control of a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014, and depriving Ukraine of a major port and its prized industrial assets.
Despite Putin's claims that it has been conquered, Oleksiy Arestovych, a political adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukrainian troops in the Azovstal complex were still holding out "despite the very difficult situation" and were attempting counterattacks.
On Saturday night, President Zelensky said: "These are our people and this is our city. We have a right to de-blockade our city militarily and we have great hope to do that."
Images released by the Ukrainians, but not independently verified, show their troops pinning down a group of Russian soldiers and tossing grenades over a brick wall late last week.
In an intelligence update on Saturday, the UK's Ministry of Defence said: "Despite their stated conquest of Mariupol, heavy fighting continues to take place frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city thus further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas."
The siege of the city has come at a huge cost.
Satellite images released this week showed what appeared to be a second mass grave near Mariupol, and local officials accused Russia of burying thousands of civilians to conceal the slaughter taking place there.
A new attempt to evacuate civilians failed on Saturday.
"The evacuation was thwarted," Mariupol city official Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram, adding that around 200 residents had gathered at the evacuation meeting point announced by Kyiv, but Russian forces "dispersed" them.
He claimed others were told to board buses headed to Dukuchayevsk, about 80km north, which is controlled by Russia.
Russian forces blamed "firing by Ukrainian nationalists at the evacuation point" for changing the destination, he added.
"Once again the Russians have disrupted an evacuation," he said.
As the battle for Mariupol ground on, Russia claimed it had taken control of several villages elsewhere in the eastern Donbas region and destroyed 11 Ukrainian military targets overnight, including three artillery warehouses.
Russian MP Leonid Babashov became the first Russian official to call for the capture of Odesa, Ukraine's largest port and an important cultural centre on Saturday.
Two missiles reportedly destroyed a logistics terminal in the Black Sea port city where a large number of weapons supplied by the United States and European nations were being stored, the Russian defence ministry said.
In an online post, the ministry also said Russian forces had killed up to 200 Ukrainian troops and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, some of them armoured.
A man and his dog look at the destroyed Russian tanks and other debris on a forest road near Dmytrivka, Ukraine. Photo / AP
There was no confirmation from Ukraine on those losses, but presidential aide Andriy Yermak confirmed five civilians - including a 3-month-old baby - had been killed and 18 wounded by Russian cruise missiles that hit Odesa.
"The only aim of Russian missile strikes on Odesa is terror," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
The deadly attacks on Odesa - which has previously largely avoided much violence - mark an escalation in Russia's tactics and come a day after a top general said that Moscow wanted to control the whole of southern Ukraine as well as the Donbas.
General Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia's central military district, said full control over southern Ukraine would give Russia access to Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-occupied part of Moldova. Such access would likely require taking Odesa, something that experts have said was unlikely at the moment.
Responding to Minnekayev's comments, President Zelensky said it showed Russia's invasion was just the beginning and that Moscow had designs on other countries.
"We are the first in line. And who will come next?" he said in a video address late on Friday.
