Russians Shot by Own Police While Looting Mariupol's Azov Steelworks Plant

A Russian national was shot by police as four individuals attempted to steal scrap metal from the Azovstal steel plant in occupied coastal city of Mariupol in Ukraine, a local official said.

Pyotr Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said one Russian national was now "in a coma" after a policeman "shot a man in the head during a fight at the Azovstal plant" on Monday.

The Azovstal steel plant was a symbol of resistance in the early stages of the war in 2022. A nearly three-month siege of the city ended in May 2022 when roughly 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned the plant after making a stand against Russian forces.

Russian forces currently occupy Mariupol, which is a strategic port city on the Azov Sea that forms part of a land corridor from the eastern Donbas region—which borders Russia—to the annexed Crimean peninsula. Images of Mariupol by Google Earth from April have shown the extent of the devastation in the city caused by Russia's full-scale invasion.

Andryushchenko said on his Telegram channel that four residents of the Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia entered the territory of the Azovstal plant, with the hopes of stealing scrap metal. A "policeman" noticed them and shot one of them in the head, he wrote.

"The injured was taken to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed the victim with a cerebral coma," Andryushchenko said, adding that Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the incident.

"The day ceases to be ordinary..." he said.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

The incident was also reported by Telegram channel Baza, which is linked to Moscow's security services, and the Russian-language channel ASTRA.

ASTRA reported that four residents of Chechnya, currently living in occupied Mariupol, entered the Azovstal plant to steal scrap metal.

"They were noticed by occupation police officers guarding the building. Three of the men surrendered to the police, and the fourth, 37-year-old Magomed Skiev, took a knife and walked towards the officers," it said.

The channel also reported that Skiev is in a coma after receiving a gunshot wound to the head.

Baza said that "during a scuffle with the attacker, a police officer accidentally shot. The bullet hit Skiev in the head."

"The police were not intoxicated and did not receive serious injuries," the channel added.

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