The Russian army said it was ready “at any moment” to honor a ceasefire “on all or part” of the Azovstal industrial site, the Mariupol steel plant. to allow the evacuation of civilians and the surrender of Ukraine’s fighters. “The starting point of this humanitarian ceasefire will be the raising of white flags by Ukrainian armed formations on all or part of the Azov valley site,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
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According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kiev authorities are preventing the evacuation of soldiers and civilians who find themselves barricaded in the steelworks.
“It was established that after the liberation of Mariupol, an order was issued for humanitarian reasons to call off the attack on the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant,” reads the note released after the phone conversation between Putin and President European Council Charles Michel , as reported by the Kremlin.
At the same time, all soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, militants of domestic battalions and foreign mercenaries were guaranteed safety, appropriate treatment in accordance with international law and the provision of qualified medical care. But the Kiev regime does not allow this opportunity to be used,” the Kremlin continues.
The possibility of meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy depends on the outcome of negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, in which Kyiv has not been coherent, Putin stressed. “Responding to Charles Michel’s request for direct contact with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian President reiterated his well-known position on the matter, noting that this possibility depends in particular on the concrete results of the ongoing negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives. . , during which the Ukrainian side shows inconsistency and is unwilling to seek mutually acceptable solutions,” the note reads.
During the interview, “Charles Michel informed about contacts with the Ukrainian leadership during his recent trip to Kyiv. Vladimir Putin expressed his assessments regarding the special military operation to protect the Donbass republics,” the Kremlin continues.