Fighting continued near Mariupol, Ukraine, on Wednesday morning, even after face-to-face talks between Russias Vladimir Putin and Ukraines Petro Poroshenko. Photo: AP
Ukrainian loyalist fighters from the Azov Battalion stand guard on a hill on the outskirts of Mariupol. Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
WITH pro-Russian rebels looming threateningly at its gates, fighters loyal to the city of Mariupol are having to face a hard truth: they will be unable to save this vital Ukrainian port alone.
"We're the only ones here," sighs 'Botsman', the leader of one unit in the Azov volunteer battalion trying to hold out as pro-Russian rebel forces sweep west.
From a headland above the Azov Sea, in the "no man's land" between the two lines, he can see Novoazovsk, a seaside town just across the bay captured by the rebels on Wednesday after days of fierce fighting.
Since it fell, the south-eastern port city of Mariupol has felt like a place awaiting its fate.
"The Ukrainian army has pulled back," says 'Panther', a fellow loyalist fighter covered in tattoos who identifies himself as a "Ukrainian nationalist".
The situation, says Botsman, is getting bad.
Ukrainian loyalist fighters from the Azov Battalion stand guard on a hill on the outskirts of Mariupol. Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
Pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine warned yesterday that they will launch a fresh offensive against government troops, days after seizing swathes of territory. Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
While Mariupol waits, there is an uneasy calm. Just behind the last roadblock held by the army, hundreds of people have gathered, many dressed in the sunflower yellow and sky blue of Ukraine's national flag.
Ukrainian loyalists demonstrate by the last checkpoint controlled by Ukraine's army on the eastern side of Mariupol. Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
In the fields beside them, a series of trenches are being dug to try to halt any future advance into the city from the east, while soldiers sing "Ukraine is not dead".
The other slogans tell of a population still proudly loyal to Kiev, even as the tide in the east seems to be turning against them.
"Glory to Ukraine," and "Putin out", shout some of the fighters. "Agents of the Kremlin: know that Mariupol is Ukrainian", echo the crowd.
An Ukrainian soldier digs a trench on the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Picture: Alexander Khudotepky Source: AFP
Residents of Mariupol dig trenches and make fortifications with sandbags as they assist Ukrainian troops in organising their defence. Picture: Anatolii Boiko Source: AFP
The mood among fighters is equally defiant, but matched with an awareness that as things stand, it would not take long for them to be outgunned.
Botsman, a Russian by blood and a veteran of the war in Chechnya, says he is here to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He starts to go through the list of what the pro-Kiev fighters need: tanks, drones, heavy artillery, up-to-date-maps, a less-chaotic form of leadership.
"As you can see, what we have here is hardly the top-grade material" on show at the Kiev military parade, he says, sardonically.
The Azov battalion is said to be one of the most radical nationalist groups fighting in the area. They won Mariupol back from the separatists in June.
A villager looks at a pro-Russian fighter pasting a paper on the wall of a supermarket in downtown Novoazovsk, 50kms east of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
The paper reads "The Fredom Army of Novarussia welcomes you, we are here and planning to stay for a long time. Do not believe in rumours that we are about to leave the city. Our goal is to go further, your goal is to build up a peaceful and honourable lifestyle". Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
An Orthodox priest (R) salutes Ukrainian soldiers defending the last checkpoint on the eastern side of Mariupol. Picture: Francisco Leong Source: AFP
If the town falls again, it will be the second notch for the separatists along this southern coast. Another few hundred kilometres, and the path reaches Crimea, the region annexed by Russia in March.
As well as its strategic importance, the loss of the town would be a symbolic blow for Kiev, whose army has been pushed back over the last week from the south-eastern front.
"It is the last big town in the region under Ukrainian control, home to half a million people," the commander of the Azov battalion, Andrey Biletsky, tells AFP.
He admits that there are few official troops and tanks now here, but insists that the situation is not yet "critical", and says he is confident "the army will send reinforcements".
A dog looks out the window of a car queuing at a checkpoint as people flee Mariupol in the Donetsk region amid fears of an offensive by pro-Russian militants. Picture: Anatolii Boiko Source: AFP
Ukrainian troops stop cars at a checkpoint as people flee Mariupol. Picture: Anatolii Boiko Source: AFP
"We can hold them off, but for how long? We don't have the strength to beat them." Another difficulty is that even in this pro-Kiev bastion, not everyone is with them. Their flags are sometimes painted red by pro-Moscow locals among the population.
Biletsky says it is clear "that part of the population here no longer supports Ukraine, but we cannot abandon those who are depending on us."
Yesterday, things were calm between the lines of Mariupol, the loyalists of Novoazovsk, and the separatists fighting to defeat them.
Botsman thinks their enemies are afraid of the mines, or are considering, instead, an attack on Olenivka to the north.
"If they take Olenivka, the northern road to Mariupol will also be open," he says. "And if they take Mariupol, they will not stop." On the other side of the front, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) away, a fighter called "Svat" guards the pro-Russian position.
"We wait," he says, although he doesn't add what for.
Ukrainian soldiers park their hardware on the roadside as they wait for the start of the march into the town of Mariupol on Wednesday. Picture: Sergei Grits Source: AP
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