From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernici. This is the Daily.

For the past two months, a group of Ukrainian fighters has been holed up in a steel plant

in the strategic city of Miriobul. The last stand against Russian forces in a critical

part of Ukraine's east. On Monday, Ukraine surrendered, leaving the soldiers' fate uncertain.

Today, my colleague, Michael Schwartz, on the story of one of those soldiers, and on how

a rare Russian victory has already become a rallying cry for resistance in Ukraine. It's

Wednesday, May 18.

So, Mike, where does this story begin for you?

I've been in Ukraine covering this war for about three months, and at the beginning of

the fighting, it became clear that one of the areas that Russia was most interested in

was Miriobul. This is a seaside port city that is incredibly important for Russia strategically.

It is the window through which Russia can connect Russian territory to the Crimean peninsula,

this patch of land sticking off the end of Ukraine, that Russia annexed in 2014.

Right. I mean, the Russians have been pretty successful in Miriobul. I mean, we've talked

before on the show about, you know, them taking over larger and larger parts of the city,

and that it was, in fact, pretty much just leveled.

Yeah, I guess it depends on how you define success. Militarily, yes, they've been able to

seize control of the city, but that's come at the cost of the destruction of perhaps 90%

of the buildings. And as they move through the city decimating it, people were pushed

to the sea, and the place that they sought refuge primarily was this steel plant, the

As of Stahl steel plant, which became this last bastion of resistance for Ukrainian fighters.

And so about a month ago, I started to try and piece together as much as I could about

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