According to Ukrainian and American intelligence, Russia has involved 12-14 thousand armed forces in Mariupol assault, not taking into account fleet and air forces, claims Azov regiment leader Andriy Biletskyi in LB interview.
“From 12 to 14 thousand of military personnel were involved during the peak of Mariupol assault, according to Ukrainian and American intelligence. Not taking into account Russian pilots or the navy that shells the city. Land forces only. At this moment the number of forces is reduced, they transfer some of them. Defense perimeter is reduced and they can control it with smaller forces that’s why they transfer some forces in the “break through” direction. They plan to break through from south to north, to cover our Joint Forces Operation (JFO) group. This means in the direction of Zaporizhya, Pokroovsk that they are going to break through. It’s hard to tell what part of the forces they transferred,” said Biletskyi.
According to Biletskyi, “elite units” of Russian forces are involved in the Mariupol blockade.
“We need to understand that there were at least four rotations of those forces. They bring in forces, Ukrainians kill half of them and the remains are removed to bring in fresh units. The following is present there at this point: Russian navy, pacific fleet, I guess, 28th brigade of Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) special forces, Slovyansk regiment of so-called navy of “Donetsk People's Republic” (DNR). They were half destroyed, made unfit for combat and they were removed to be manned up and reorganized. I mean right now they are: the navy, GRU, Russian army elite – Slovyansk brigade are in Mariupol,” said Biletskyi, who is founder of Azov regiment.
Biletskyi claims that currently the number of Russian military personnel [in Mariupol] has decreased to 7-8 thousand and those are the forces that Russians lacked to start the Donbas battle.
“I mean that not less than 10% of Russian occupier forces are in Mariupol now,” says Biletskyi.
Biletskyi thinks that the Russians need Mariupol because of its port and to be able to connect Crimea and “Luhansk/Donetsk People's Republics” (L/DNR) with mainland Russia.
“Without the sea port of Mariupol and its plants, the so-called “L/DNR” could not normally function from an economic standpoint. That was a broken industrial chain. Both Donetsk and Luhansk worked for Mariupol. Furthermore, they also needed logistics and the logistics that were in the southern route that went through Mariupol. It’s called Vienna-Rostov, I guess, and it goes, say from Odesa. I mean this way they could easily connect Crimea with “L/DNR” and mainland Russia.
And secondly, the port considerably improves logistics. Unless Russia controls Mariupol, they can’t fully use this transport corridor. And the Russians have dreamt of a land corridor to Crimea since 2014. Now they have the corridor, but can’t fully use it. That’s why they need control over Mariupol,” summed up Biletskyi.
Mariupol has been besieged since March 1. It’s surrounded by Russian forces from three sides and by the sea from the fourth side. Despite the difficult situation, Ukrainian forces hold the defense.