The Donetsk authorities assured that Separatist forces have taken control of Port of Mariupol. “As for the port of Mariupol, it is now under our control,” confirmed the territory’s leader Denis Pushilin.
Hours before the announcement, Pushilin had called for intensifying “the march of the liberation operation” of Donbass.
Mariupol, key to Russia
The port city Mariupol has become one of Russia’s main goalsto continue its expansion and unite the rebel areas of Donbass with the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. A few days ago, the Kremlin warned against preparing a final offensive on the city.
The strategy of the Russian troops is to break through the lines of the Ukrainian army with an encirclement maneuver from the Kharkov region to the north, from the east of the Donbass and from Mariupol to the south.
No chance of release
The situation in Mariupol is so desperate that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ensured that the same are committed there war crimes carried out in Bucha. “The Russians totally destroyed and burned Mariupol. At least tens of thousands of Mariupol citizens must have died,” the Ukrainian president lamented.
The Ukrainian National Naval Brigade believes that today, due to the lack of ammunition and supplies, there will be “probably the last battle” to resist: “For some of us it will be death, and for others captivity.”
Oleksii Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian President, has admitted this in this regard militarily “it is impossible” to liberate Mariupol.
geopolitical situation
Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has accused Russia of being responsible for a Escalation of the global food crisis. “They create bottlenecks. They’re bombing Ukrainian cities and causing world hunger,” Borrell said.
In this regard he added that this war “decides on the geopolitical situation in the coming years”.