Vadym Boytchenko, Mayor of Mariupol, is a guest on the March 31 episode of Dreito e rovescio, Rete4’s nightly talk show. Answering Paolo Del Debbio’s questions, the mayor of the Ukrainian city, a crucial junction of the war with Russia, first makes a clarification on the Azov battalion, which the Russians are accused of destroying the city instead of defending it: “simply , on February 24 Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine and invaded our territory and started this war against Mariupol.The National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine defended and are defending our city.There are no nationalist troops in Ukraine.There is my son who defends his homeland today, Lieutenant Boytchenko, and he is trying to restore peace, so every citizen who died today is not a Nazi, we did not raid anything, we are in our country, Putin has with his troops committed terrible acts, he says he frees us, but he frees our country from our people… It’s a Genocide, it’s a war crime, he will burn in hell for what they did to our beautiful city”.
How is the situation in Mariupol? Del Debbio then asks the mayor, who draws a disaster scenario: “It is extremely complex, the city has been completely under siege for 36 days. There is a complete humanitarian catastrophe. We have no electricity, no heating, no water, no gas. Basic goods such as food and medicine are running out. Today we appeal to the entire international community. We need a complete evacuation of all citizens of Mariupol, because today it is very important to save every single life, every single citizen, every single heart that is still beating in this horror. Our city was destroyed by the Russian invaders with their war criminal Putin.
Another topic discussed is the bombing of the Mariupol Theater, the climax of the conflict: “In the theater Boytchenko reveals were my mother, father and brother with his family, they have a small child. They lived in the theater for more than 20 days, in the morning they had two glasses of hot water and two biscuits. At noon there was a small bowl of soup, there were 800 people, in the evening it was the same, a glass of water and two biscuits. Cynically, the first citizen accuses, the Russian troops ignored this sign in front of the “Children’s” theater. They hit, they bombed, and inside the bunker, a lot of people were queuing for this meal. They destroyed the theater. Some of the people were able to get out, but many people stayed under the rubble. But according to Russian propaganda, there were soldiers, but the word children was written in large numbers. The Russian propagandists, who saw the civilians dying in the rubble, said they were all Nazis. The Nazis were invented by Russian propagandists. In the last ten days, Russian troops have destroyed the collection points and the buses “effectively blocking the exit from the city”. Mayor Boytchenko finally concluded by announcing that the National Guard commander’s decision on Ukraine’s surrender was “not to give up even an inch of Ukraine”. We will resist to the end. And our country is with us.
“The Azov battalion protects us”
The mayor of Mariupol a #Thirdtoerovescio pic.twitter.com/A7xyDK2Y1Q
Front and back (@Drittorovescio_) March 31, 2022