After Russia’s ultimatum to surrender the Ukrainian armed forces in Mariupol by Sunday noon, no response from the Ukrainian side was initially known. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow had asked the Ukrainian troops in the embattled industrial and port city in south-eastern Ukraine to surrender between 5 a.m. and 12 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST). Meanwhile, an attack on Kyiv was repelled.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense only announced in the morning that Russia was continuing its attacks on Mariupol. Before the ultimatum was announced, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in Mariupol was extremely difficult. His government is in daily contact with the city’s defenders.
Group of fighters entrenched on factory premises
If surrendered, Mariupol would be the first major city to be captured by Russian forces since Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24. According to Russia, its troops have largely captured the city. Only a small group of Ukrainian fighters are holed up at the Azovstal site, one of the two large steelworks in Mariupol. The factory site with countless buildings, chimneys and railway tracks is more than eleven square kilometers in size.
“Considering the catastrophic situation that has developed at the Azovstal Metallurgical Plant, guided by purely humane principles, the Russian Armed Forces offer the fighters of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries to cease all hostilities on April 17, 2022 from 06:00 (Moscow time). end and lay down their arms,” the Defense Ministry said in Moscow. The lives of all who surrendered by 1 p.m. Moscow time (12 p.m. CEST) will be spared.
Attacks on Kyiv repelled
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor of Kyiv Mykola Povorosnyk said Russian air defenses repelled attacks on the Ukrainian capital. There were no explosions in the capital, he said. According to local mayor Igor Zaposhko, infrastructure was destroyed in a rocket attack on Brovary, a suburb of Kyiv. According to Russian sources, an ammunition factory was destroyed in the attack. This is reported by the Russian state news agency RIA.
After the withdrawal of Russian troops from the greater Kyiv area, the Russian military is concentrating on conquering areas in southern and eastern Ukraine. A major goal is the capture of Mariupol. The city on the Azov Sea is considered strategically important. It lies between the pro-Russian, self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Source: Nachrichten
