Azovstal: The 80 day siege

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live in darkness underground for 80 days, while bombs and missile strikes rain down from above and rations are so tight you can only eat once a day. Next, imagine having to choose between feeding yourself and feeding your baby. This was the reality for those trapped in Azovstal steelworks in the Spring of 2022. Every day was a gamble with death. Senior journalist for the BBC's Ukraine Service, Diana Kuryshko, meets the Ukrainian citizens and soldiers who survived to tell the tale.

With special thanks to the Museum of Civilian Voices by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

Presenter: Diana Kuryshko
Producer: Sarah Shebbeare

(Photo: Members of the Ukrainian armed forces seen inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works complex in Mariupol, 10 May, 2022. Credit: Dmytro Orest Kozatskyi/Azov regiment press service/Reuters)