After nearly two months of siege, the port city of Mariupol seemed this Wednesday very close to falling completely into the hands of Russian troopswho are intensifying their offensive in the east and south of Ukraine.
(What was moving in the macabre Russian website that Germany dismantled)
This week Moscow announced a “new phase” in this war which, since its start on February 24, has led to the exile outside the country of more than five million people, the largest and fastest exodus from Europe since World War II, according to the UN Refugee Agencys (UNHCR).
(Russian army launches the ‘second phase’ of its military offensive in Donbas)
From almost the beginning Mariupollocated to the south, in the Sea of Azov, has been a piece key in Moscow’s plans to establish a corridor between the pro-Russian territories of Donbas (east) to the Crimean peninsula.
After a long siege, Russia has demanded that Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in the city’s huge Azovstal industrial complex surrender, lay down their arms and save their lives.
“We live perhaps our last days, if not hours (…) The enemy outnumbers us ten to one,” said Ukrainian commander Serguiy Volyna, of the 36th Marine Brigade, sheltered in the underground corridors of that large factory. metallurgical.
Russia did not comment on the evolution of the situation in the city, but pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region, where Mariupol is located, said that five Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered and 140 civilians had been evacuated.
In addition to the soldiers and militiamen who resist, there are at least 1,000 civilians sheltered in the basement of the industrial complex, indicated the Mariupol municipal authority, which fears more than 20,000 civilians dead in the city.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced a agreement with Russia to evacuate “women, children and the elderly” through a corridor to Zaporizhia, a journey of 200 km in a north-westerly direction. “Don’t be afraid to go to Zaporizhia, where you will receive all the necessary help: food, medicine, basic necessities… But the essential thing will be this: you will be safe,” Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boichenko said.
RUSSIA
Below these 11 km² of the steel mill #AZOVSTAL, Mariúpol, Ukraine, there are approximately 2,500 Ukrainian troops between soldiers, Nazi-Azovs and mercenaries with a surrender deadline 🙏🏾 that expires in 2 and ½ hours; and, presumably, an unknown number of civilians🙏🏾👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/wA8WbgpkVO— Walter Martinez (@WalterDossier) April 20, 2022
The taking of Mariupol would be a key advance for Russia after having withdrawn its troops from northern Ukraine and the outskirts of kyiv to focus on Donbas, a mining area in the east disputed since 2014 by the kyiv government and pro-Russian rebels.
Days before launching his offensive in Ukraine, on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Lugansk and Donetsk, in this region, and advocated protecting their Russian-speaking population.
At this critical moment, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, went to kyiv in a new show of support from the Western powers, who promised more sanctions on Russia for its escalation in the east and more weapons for
Ukraine.
“In kyiv today. In the heart of a free and democratic Europe,” he wrote on Twitter. “History will not forget the war crimes” committed by the Russians in
Ukraine, he said later from Borodianka, one of the flattened towns near the capital.
Hours earlier, the US Pentagon stated that Ukraine recently received fighter jets and components to improve its air forcealthough sources from the Ukrainian command refuted that they had only obtained parts to repair their damaged aircraft.
For its part, the Norwegian government announced the dispatch of a hundred anti-aircraft missiles, while Washington prepares another $800 million military aid packageless than a week after announcing another for the same amount.
In the last few days alone, this neighborhood of Donetsk (Petrovka) has been hit by more than 50 GRAD missiles.
Feel my fear, imagine yours and tell me who will pay today for the children who will not play in Donbas tomorrow.
8 years of media manipulation. 8 years of pain and silence. pic.twitter.com/wDLf7darGK
— Liu Sivaya (@liusivaya) April 20, 2022
Fighting in Donbas and Kharkov, while Russia restricts visas to EU countries
Beyond Mariupol, fighting rages across the east. After a series of attacks claimed by Moscow on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday “attempted assaults” in the towns of Sulygivka and Dibrivne, in the Kharkov region (northeast), as well as in the important cities of Rubizhne and Severodonetsk, in the Lugansk region (east).
The governor of the latter region, Sergei Gaidai, again appealed to civilians to flee. “The situation is getting complicated hour by hour,” he warned. The shelling also intensified in the south, another front line.
The Duma or The Russian Chamber of Deputies approved on Wednesday a law that restricts the granting of visas to the countries of the European Union (EU), in addition to Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, for their “unfriendly actions” against Russia.
From now on, citizens of the aforementioned countries holding diplomatic passports will have to apply for a visa to enter Russian territory. In addition, preferences for members of official delegations, members of governments and parliaments, and journalists are overturned.
That category of European citizens will have to pay for the Russian visa, according to the document. The issuance of multiple visas valid for one year for official delegations and journalists, and multiple visas valid for five years for members of national and regional governments, parliaments and courts are also restricted.
Russia hands Ukraine a settlement proposal
Russia handed over to the Ukrainian side a draft document in the peace talks carried out by Moscow and kyivand awaits a response from its authorities, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said today.
“Today we hand over to the Ukrainian side our draft document that includes absolutely clear and developed formulations. The ball is in their court, we are waiting for a response,” said the representative of the Russian Presidency.
Peskov did not specify any timeframe for this response, saying only that “it depends on the Ukrainian side.” “But I reiterate once again, and we have said it several times, that the dynamics of the work of the Ukrainian side leaves much to be desired, the Ukrainians do not show a great tendency to intensify the process of talks,” he added.
The Kremlin spokesman recalled the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who noted that kyiv constantly changes previously discussed agreements and departs from its own proposals. “Naturally, this has very bad consequences from the point of view of the effectiveness of the talks,” he said.
This same Wednesday, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajárova, stated in a television appearance that Russia “has not trusted these people for a long time,” referring to the Ukrainian negotiating team. “On the part of the office of the person who calls himself the president of Ukraine and has the corresponding powers, we heard the request to start talks and
Russia did not reject this request,” he recalled.
Zakharova pointed out that in recent years this has been precisely kyiv’s approach to the talks, and recalled the non-compliance with the Minsk agreements. “It is a classic scheme, which allows us to ensure that it is not an independent regime and that it is controlled from the outside. And second, the talks are a diversionary maneuver,” she added.
Finland debates joining NATO
This escalation has revived Western criticism, with leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warning that “the murder of thousands of civilians is a war crime for which the Russian president (Vladimir Putin) bears responsibility.”
In addition, it has pushed European countries that were not members of NATO to consider joining, despite dissuasive and threatening messages from Moscow.
The Finnish parliament begins to debate its accession on Wednesday, a step also contemplated by the historically reticent Sweden. In this context, it seems complicated that the request of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, for a “humanitarian pause” of four days during Orthodox Easter will succeed.
More than five million Ukrainians have fled
More than five million Ukrainians have fled their country after the Russian invasion, according to UN figures published this Wednesday, in the fastest flow of refugees in Europe since the Second World War.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that 5,034,439 Ukrainians have left the country since Russia began its invasion on February 24. LWomen and children make up 90 percent of the refugees. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 can be called up to fight, so they are not allowed to leave the country.
Before the invasion, Ukraine had 37 million inhabitants in the territories controlled by kyiv, which does not include Crimea (south) annexed in 2014 by Russia, nor the eastern areas under the control of pro-Russian separatists since that same year.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than 218,000 non-Ukrainians, mainly foreign students and workers, have also fled to neighboring countries, meaning that more than 5.25 million people in total have left Ukraine since the war began. In addition to the refugees, the IOM estimates that there are 7.1 million internally displaced persons in Ukraine.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
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