Russian forces have cordoned off an area of Mariupol in the face of another possible attempt to storm the Azovstal steel plant. This was reported by Petro Andrushchenko, Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol. “For the time being, the occupiers have again closed the district square on the left bank of Veselka Park north of the steelworks. This could be due to another attempt to storm Azovstal or street fighting.”
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The situation in Mariupol’s Azovstal is now “beyond a humanitarian catastrophe,” said Major Serhiy Volyna, commander of the 36th Naval Brigade, which is leading Ukrainian forces barricading the steel mill along with hundreds of civilians, including, he explains, 60 children are, according to CNN , one just four months old.
“We have very little water, very little food left,” Volyna continued, explaining that the recent Russian bombing of the field hospital inside the complex destroyed vital medical equipment. “The operating room was hit directly, and all the equipment and materials necessary for the operations were destroyed – he added – we cannot treat our wounded, especially gunshot wounds and shrapnel.”
The commander then said he did not know the details of the possible evacuation plan announced for today. “I know that the mission has arrived in Zaporizhia and is trying to launch a rescue operation,” he added, saying he was in direct contact with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was briefing them on “the situation across Ukraine and in Mariupol.” keep morale up”. “We can’t tell you for sure how long we will be able to resist,” he concluded, “it all depends on the enemy’s movements and also luck, we place high hopes in the possibility of an evacuation, in the fact that the President may be able to “get them out”.
In the meantime Two British volunteers were kidnapped by Russian forces in Ukraine while evacuating civilians. This is reported by CNN, citing a statement by Dominik Byrne, co-founder and chief operating officer of the British non-profit organization Presidium Network. Aid workers lost contact with the organization Monday morning while traveling south of the central Ukraine city of Zaporizhia to help organize a civilian evacuation of the area.
Neither is directly dependent on the Presidium Network, but the organization offered support, according to Byrne, adding that a family the two men tried to evacuate from Zaporizhia was later questioned by Russian soldiers, who asked if the volunteers are “British spies”.