The attacks have also affected the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which has been left without electricity
For the fifth consecutive day, most of the corridors open to evacuate civilians from cities besieged by the Russian Army or where the humanitarian situation is unsustainable fail again. The port city of Mariupol, on the shores of the Sea of Azov and of strategic importance for Moscow because its control will allow connecting mainland Russia with the Crimean peninsula by land, was again heavily bombed this Wednesday, which perfectly illustrates the reason why that it becomes impossible to evacuate its population.
The Mariúpol City Council through its Telegram account assured that “Russian occupation troops have thrown bombs at a children’s hospital. The destruction is colossal and there are people trapped under the rubble.” The Ukrainian media also cite information from a former policeman, Viacheslav Abroskin, spread through Facebook, stating that “the number 2 maternity hospital in Mariupol was also hit (…) eyewitnesses maintain that maternity no longer exists. There are many dead and injured women.
This information was ratified by Pavlo Kirilenko, members of the local military administration. He said via Twitter: “Russians, you have not only crossed the line of what is acceptable in relations between states and peoples, but you have crossed the line of what is human.”
The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, also through Twitter, echoed the tragedy that occurred in Mariúpol, calling it an “atrocity”. In his words, “there are people, children, under the rubble. How much longer will the world remain complicit and ignorant of terror? Declare the no-fly zone right now! Stop the slaughter! You have the power but it seems that you are losing humanity.
Zelensky denounced on Tuesday that Mariupol, a city that had 400,000 inhabitants before the war in 2014 and has now been crushed by bombing for nine days, is “without communications, electricity, food and water.” He also referred to the death of a six-year-old girl from dehydration when she was trapped by debris after her home was hit by bombs. His mother also perished.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba, who will meet in Turkey this Thursday with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, has called on the West to take forceful measures “in order to stop this barbaric war against civilians and babies.” Kuleba repeated that “Russia is blocking humanitarian aid and the evacuation” of civilians from Mariupol using “indiscriminate bombing.” He noted that “about 3,000 babies need food and medicine” and urged the international community to “act without wasting time.”
According to information from the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Irina Vereshuk, in her usual appearance this Wednesday, after negotiating with Russia, six humanitarian corridors were opened for 12 hours: From Energodar to Zaporizhia, in the southeastern part of the country, from Sumy to Poltava, in the northeast sector, from Mariupol to Zaporizhia, also in the southeast, from Volnóvaja to Pokrovsk (southeast), from Izium to Lozovaya, in the east, and from the towns near the capital of Vorzel, Bucha, Borodianka, Irpín and Gostómel, all of them severely attacked in recent days by Russian troops, to Kiev, in the north.
But, during the evacuation, very close to the open corridor between Sumy and Poltava, in Okhtirka, the shots of the Russian aviation and artillery killed one person and wounded at least fourteen. The Ukrainian agency UNIAN maintains that the attack took place against a residential building. This Wednesday there were also bombings around Kiev, in Yitomir, Vasilkov and Vinitsia. Kharkov, Ukraine’s second largest city, was also attacked again on Wednesday. Hundreds of civilians had to be evacuated from their homes. Severodonestk, in the east, according to Sergei Gaidai, one of the municipal officials, 10 people were killed in a Russian attack on the city.
Zelensky urged Poland once again on Wednesday to hand over planes to them, since NATO refuses to create the no-fly zone that Kiev requests to stop Russian bombing. “Make a decision as quickly as possible,” he said. In this regard, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajárova, warned at a press conference that “any involvement in the supply of weapons or the sending of so-called volunteers, any experiment in this regard, will entail responsibility for the countries concerned.” .
Zakharova accused Ukrainian troops of “bombing” and “placing weapons in densely populated areas.” She declared that it is the Ukrainian ultranationalists who “prevent the evacuation of civilians (…) while Kiev hides this circumstance from the population.” The diplomatic spokeswoman asserted that Russia “does not intend the permanent occupation of Ukraine, the destruction of its state or the overthrow of its current government.”
“Parallel to the special operation – as the invasion is called in Moscow – negotiations are also taking place with the Ukrainian side to put an end to this senseless bloodshed and the resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces as soon as possible (… ) some progress has been made,” Zakharova said.
Lavrov and Kuleba meet this Thursday for the first time in Antalya (Turkey) to discuss how to stop the war. They will be received by their Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose country has offered to mediate between Moscow and Kiev. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been calling for a summit in his country between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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