A Ukrainian military commander in Mariupol has issued a desperate plea for help, saying his troops are outnumbered and may only have hours left to live.
Maj. Serhiy Volyna of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade issued the dire message in a video shared with media outlets.
"This could be the last appeal of our lives. We are probably facing our last days, if not hours," he said.
Volyna also posted the video to Facebook and tagged President Joe Biden along with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to NBC News.
"We appeal and plead to all world leaders to help us. We ask them to use the procedure of 'extraction' and take us to the territory of a third party state," Volyna said. "All of us -- Mariupol military battalion of soldiers, more than 500 wounded, and hundreds of civilians including women and children -- we plead to take us to safety on the territory of a third party state."
Mariupol, which sits about 35 miles from the Russian border, has been the focus of attacks since mid-March, NBC News reported. Last week, the mayor of Mariupol told the Associated Press that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of the city, and that the death toll could surpass 20,000.
"The enemy is outnumbering us 10 to 1. They have advantage in the air, in artillery, in their forces on land, in equipment and in tanks," Volyna said.
About 500 Ukranian soldiers are wounded.
"It is very difficult to provide them with medical care. They literally rot," Volyna told CNN, adding that civilians are injured, too. "They are also suffering from explosions, blasts on them, next to them."
Russia's Ministry of Defense on Tuesday issued a deadline for the Ukrainians to give up their arms and exit the Azovstal iron and steel plant where hundreds of people have been sheltering, but Volyna told The Washington Post that his soldiers would not surrender. The deadline has since passed.
"We will not lay down our weapons," said Volyna.
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