Escaping Separatist Encirclement Near Mariupol

While filming near Mariupol, Donetsk region, Eastern Ukraine, Hromadske journalists witnessed the withdrawal of the 14th Donbas battalion from Shyrokyne. Shyrokyne is a village which has become one of the focal points of the fight between Mariupol and Novoazovsk - a town on a Russian border.

The soldiers had just escaped from being encircled for four days. They faced fierce shelling in the lead up to the ceasefire. Out of the 28 volunteer fighters of the battalion, two died and three were injured, one of whom is in critical condition. The battalion abandoned their positions and was helped to get back to government-controlled territory by the East Ward regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the 12th of February, the Ukrainian Army started to evacuate civilians.

// Kira Tolstiakova, Khrystyna Bondarenko, Anna Tsygyma. Filmed 02.17.2015