According to Ukrainian information, around 200 civilians are still trapped there in addition to Ukrainian fighters, despite several evacuations. Reuters images showed missile salvos fired from a Russian vehicle on the outskirts of Mariupol. Buses with refugees from Mariupol are expected in Zaporizhia in the next few hours.
Tuesday’s attack followed a United Nations-brokered ceasefire around the Soviet-era steel complex that has allowed several groups of civilians to flee the last hideout of Ukrainian militants in the port city in recent days. More civilians were trapped in bunkers and tunnels under the complex, and about 100,000 people were staying in the rest of the city, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said.
Mariupol is a key target for Russia trying to cut off Ukraine from the Black Sea. In addition, Russian troops want to conquer the entire Donbass in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have controlled some areas in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions since 2014. At least three civilians were killed in the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, according to the Ukrainian Presidential Office. According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces tried to take the city of Rubishne on the front line.
Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, Russian bombardments have severely devastated several cities. Thousands of civilians died and more than five million people were forced to flee, according to the United Nations. The government in Moscow described its actions as a special operation to demilitarize and denazify the neighboring country. She denies allegations of attacking civilians. Western states, on the other hand, speak of a war of aggression and crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population.
Ukraine’s western allies have stepped up shipments of increasingly heavier weapons, which in turn are targeted by Russia’s bombardments upon their arrival in Ukraine. Russia says it fired rockets at a logistics center for weapons supplied from the West at a military airfield near the Ukrainian port of Odessa. Hangars with unmanned Bayraktar TB2 drones, missile weapons and ammunition from the United States and European countries were destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
In Ukraine, however, there are concerns that Russian attacks will escalate significantly in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, several Ukrainian media picked up a report by the US broadcaster CNN on speculation that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin could declare a state of war in Russia and order general mobilization in just a few days.
The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, also spoke of Russian preparations for an open mobilization of soldiers and reservists. There is no evidence for this. So far, Russia has officially only spoken of a “special operation” in Ukraine.
Source: Nachrichten
