The azostal steel plant became this last bastion of resistance for ukranian fighters. It's a massive territory about four square miles, with multiple buildings. When you look at it from the outside, it looks like a city from some kind of distopein future. There are nuclear capable bunkers down there, but there are also all of these civilians who have brought their families to seek refuge in the place that they think is the safest.
For the past two months, a group of Ukrainian fighters has been holed up in the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol, mounting a last stand against Russian forces in a critical part of eastern Ukraine.
On Monday, Ukraine finally surrendered the plant.
After the end of the determined resistance at Azovstal, we hear from Leonid Kuznetsov, a 25 year-old soldier who had been stationed inside.
Guest: Michael Schwirtz, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.
Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter.
Background reading:
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.