In Russia’s war against Ukraine, the port city of Mariupol has been under heavy shelling for weeks. The Ukrainian soldiers do not want to capitulate.
An end to the heavy fighting in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian troops for weeks, is not in sight for the time being. On Monday, the Ukrainian leadership rejected an ultimatum given by Russian troops to the Ukrainians to leave the city unarmed.
“There will be no surrender, no laying down of arms,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told Ukrayinska Pravda. On Sunday, Russia had asked the Ukrainian troops to lay down their arms and leave the city in south-eastern Ukraine via an escape corridor on Monday morning.
Pro-Russian Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin told Russian state television on Monday that he did not expect control of the city to be achieved in “two, three days or even a week”. The city is big. According to this, several thousand Ukrainian fighters are said to be in the city.
Praised by the Secretary of Defense
According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, the defense of Mariupol is tying up important Russian army forces. «Thanks to their self-sacrifice and superhuman bravery, tens of thousands of lives have been saved across Ukraine. Today, Mariupol is saving Kyiv, as well as Dnipro and Odessa,” Resnikov said in a statement. The fighters of the nationalist Ukrainian Azov Regiment inflicted numerous casualties on the Russian enemy, the Mariupol City Council said. The fight for the Ukrainian Mariupol continues.
War reporters from Moscow State Television showed bombed and burned houses, crushed cars and other heavy destruction in the city. According to this, several districts and the airport of Mariupol are no longer under the control of the Ukrainian authorities.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, up to 130,000 residents still live in the city on the Azov Sea – it used to be around 440,000. Russia accuses Ukraine of preventing people from fleeing along humanitarian corridors. The city council of Mariupol recently accused Moscow of bringing civilians to Russia against their will.
People from the area around Mariupol were to be brought to the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia on Monday. For this purpose, escape corridors for civilians have been set up, said Deputy Prime Minister Wereschuk. The corridors are also used to deliver relief supplies.
Diplomat sees “complete destruction”
The deputy chief of the Ukrainian presidential office, Ihor Zhovka, called the Russian attacks on Mariupol “genocide”. Russian rockets would hit there every 15 minutes, he said in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin” according to the broadcaster’s simultaneous translation. The attacks hit civilians every day. “In any case, we urgently need air defense capabilities,” said Schowka, who is responsible for foreign policy issues in the president’s office. Ukraine has therefore asked Germany and other European countries for support.
The Greek Consul in Mariupol, Manolis Androulakis, also drew a bitter balance sheet on his return from the Ukrainian war zone. “Mariupol will join those cities that were completely destroyed by war – whether Guernica, Coventry, Aleppo, Grozny or Leningrad,” the diplomat told journalists on his arrival in Athens on Sunday evening.
«There was no more life – within 24 hours the entire infrastructure was destroyed. Everything was just bombed.” What is happening in Mariupol is a tragedy for both the Russian and Ukrainian people. Androulakis was one of the last western diplomats to leave the city.
Source: Stern
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
