The commander of the 36th separate brigade of marines, which is now defending the besieged Mariupol together with Azov, Major Serhiy Volyna, wrote a letter to Pope Francis, as Ukrainian Pravda reports.
In the letter, the military asked the pontiff to help evacuate the city's residents and "save them from the hands of Satan."
"Your Holiness, Pope Francis! I am not a Catholic. I am Orthodox. I believe in God, and I know that light always overcomes darkness. I have not seen your appeals to the world, and I have not read all your latest statements, as I have been fighting for more than 50 days in the full siege. All time that I have is dedicated to a fierce battle for every meter of the city surrounded by the enemy," Volyna said in a letter.
The combatants stressed that he "took an oath of allegiance to my country. And I am ready to fight to the end. Despite the overwhelming force of the enemy, despite the inhumane conditions on the battlefield, constant artillery and rocket fire, lack of water, food, and medicine."
Major Serhiy Volyna noted in his letter that Pope Francis must have seen "many things in his life. But I am sure that you have never seen what is now happening in Mariupol. Because this is what the hell on the earth looks like."
Defender of Mariupol spoke about the difficult situation in the Ukrainian city surrounded by russians: "Women with children and babies live in the bunkers of the plant. In hunger and cold. Every day they are the target of enemy aircraft. The wounded die every day because there is no medicine, no water, no food."
The commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade asked the pontiff for help in rescuing people from besieged Mariupol.
"Because the time has come when prayers are not the only thing to do. Help save them. After the bombing of the drama theater, no one has faith in the russian occupiers. Bring the truth to the world, evacuate people, and save their lives from Satan, who wants to burn all living," the Ukrainian combatant said.
Today the Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, appealed to the russian military and political leadership because of the further aggravation of the situation in Mariupol with a call to create a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians. Recently, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the leaders of the power bloc to discuss Mariupol.
Earlier, the commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, Major Serhiy Volyna, called on the Ukrainian authorities to unblock the city as soon as possible, either militarily or politically.