Azovstal, the farewell of the photographer-soldier after leaving the steel mill

“By the way, while I am a prisoner I leave you my photos in high quality, send them to all the journalistic awards and photo contests. It will be very nice if I win something, after I get out.” The latest tweet from Dmytro Kozatskyknown by all as Orest, could only be accompanied by images from the Azovstal steel mill where he resisted Russian assaults for almost three months, along with hundreds of fellow soldiers.

More than twenty photos uploaded to a folder on Google Drive, through a public link and available to all, you become the testament of the photographer-soldier who has never stopped telling through his lens the living conditions inside the steel mill. “Well, that’s it. Thank you from Azovstal’s refuge, the place of my death and my life,” the young fighter tweeted. Images of faces disfigured, injured, amputated and treated in extreme conditions. A gallery destined to remain engraved in his memory, which earned him the nickname “Azovstal’s eye” because with his camera he never stopped telling the 86 days of resistance inside the dark tunnels of the steel mill.

Among those tunnels Orest also found the strength to show moments of leisure, such as the video that went viral in which he sings “Stefania”, the song of the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra that won the last edition of Eurovision in Turin. “Congratulations from Mariupol’s heart”, reads the description of the short video. On May 2, she published a portrait of her smiling among the spring flowers. “This would be perfect as a ‘last photo’, so that everyone remembers me like that. The photo that best describes me, because even in the most horrible part I can find something wonderful. But I think this photo will be just the beginning. L ‘beginning of our liberation and victory “.

But today Azovstal’s defenders were ordered to stop fighting. “The military superior command has given the order to save the lives of the soldiers of our garrison and to stop defending the city” of Mariupol, the commander of the Azov battalion said in a video message. Denys Prokopenko still in the steel mill. The withdrawal of the military from the steel plant will be completed soon, the Ukrainian president said Volodymyr Zelensky. “To date, all civilians who were trapped in the plant have been taken away. The doctors and the injured, serious and otherwise, are now out,” Zelensky said, adding that “the withdrawal will be completed soon.”

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 1,908 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered. While “the last group of 531 militants
Azovstal in Mariupol surrendered today, “said the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov – resumed from the Russian news agency Tass – announcing the taking of the steel mill.