A new UN convoy will arrive in Mariupol today to evacuate civilians fleeing the Azovstal steelworks, the last focal point of resistance in the southeastern Ukrainian port.
Russia had declared a three-day ceasefire starting Thursday to allow civilians trapped in the industrial complex to escape, but Ukrainian troops say it was not enforced.
The Ukrainian Azov battalion said, “During the ceasefire in the Azovstal factory area, a vehicle was fired on by the Russians with a guided anti-tank missile. The vehicle was heading towards civilians to evacuate civilians.”
According to the Ukrainian military, “one fighter was killed and six injured.”
Local officials say there are about 200 civilians still trapped in the steel mill’s network of underground corridors, which the last Ukrainian defense units have resisted.
“The operation is starting. We pray for its success,” Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told AFP by phone this morning.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him it was “willing” to ensure the “safe” withdrawal of civilians, but asked Kiev to order fighters still at the factory to “put down their weapons.”
Information on this subject so far is contradictory.
According to Ukrainian authorities, a total of about 500 civilians have been evacuated from Mariupol in recent days.
Contains offensive
After more than two months of siege, Russian troops control nearly all of Mariupol, a pre-war city of about 500,000 people in the Sea of Azov, south of the Donbass.
The total capture will be an important victory for Russia before 9 May. On this date, he commemorates his victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 by holding a grand military parade on Moscow’s Red Square.
Moscow denied on Friday that it was preparing a parade in Maripol, which had been completely destroyed by weeks of bombing and sieges.
Also, at the strategic level, this city would allow the consolidation of the link between the occupied territories in the east of Donbass and the annexed Crimean peninsula in the south.
Ukrainian forces reported that Russian troops virtually surrounded Severodonetsk, the last eastern position of Kiev, and tried to take it from several points.
A deputy from the upper house of the Russian parliament visited Kherson, Ukraine’s only major city so far completely controlled by Russian troops, and said today Russia will stay “forever” in southern Ukraine.
Donation
On the diplomatic front, Western countries continue to increase their pressure on Russia, which has been subjected to an unprecedented series of sanctions.
European Council President Charles Michel said he favored confiscating Russian assets frozen in the European Union as part of these sanctions to contribute to the rebuilding of Ukraine.
A spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced today that the leaders of the G7 major powers will hold a virtual meeting on Sunday largely devoted to the war in Ukraine.
According to the same source, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who launched a global fundraising campaign via a digital platform, will attend the meeting.
“With one click you can donate funds to help our defenders, save our civilians and rebuild Ukraine,” he said.
In addition, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced at a donation conference in Warsaw that more than 6 billion Euros (6.3 billion USD) has been provided for the country.
In addition to financial and military assistance, Ukraine’s allies have also adopted unprecedented sanctions against Russia.
The European Commission has proposed that all 27 EU member states gradually ban oil imports from Russia, in its most drastic measure ever.
Hungarian nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban strongly opposed this embargo, accusing European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen of “attacking” the bloc’s unity.
Orban claimed that Hungary is completely dependent on Russian oil and that an embargo would be the equivalent of a “nuclear bomb on its economy.”
The war was also present in the UN Security Council, where several countries and this organization’s secretary-general, António Guterres, called for an end to the violence, albeit without reference to the now stalled peace negotiations.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of its territorial integrity and the United Nations Charter,” Guterres said.
source: Noticias
