Aerial view of the attack on the Mariupol power plant
Photo: Mariupol City Council/via Reuters
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has given up ordering the attack on the Azovstal plant, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in the city of Mariupol, and has ordered a siege of the site. Mariupol has been a target of Russian forces since the beginning of the war and is a key strategic target for the Kremlin as it connects Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014, with the Donbass region, Putin’s main target in this new phase of the war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the rest of the city, as well as the sprawling Azovstal Iron steelworks where Ukrainian forces are holed up, are “encircled and the perimeter securely sealed”. Putin called this a “success”. However, Russian troops have been trying unsuccessfully to take the city since March. Since then, the siege led by the Russian military has resulted in the deaths and displacement of thousands of civilians, who have been left without water, power and food.
“Some of the nationalist formations took refuge in the industrial zone of the Azovstal factory,” Shoigu said at a meeting with the Russian president. In return, the Russian leader revoked orders to enter the Azovstal Steel Plant, where some 2,000 Ukrainian defenders are equipped to save lives and maintain the blockade of the industrial zone.
“I consider the planned attack on the industrial area to be inappropriate. I order the cancellation,” President Shoigu said at the televised session.
The port city had been besieged since the beginning of the war, which reached 57th day this Thursday. It was heavily bombed by the Russians. Russian missiles and artillery hit more than a thousand military targets Ukraine overnight, including 162 firing positions, the Department of Defense said.
Russian forces and Russianbacked separatists also took full control of the eastern city of Kreminna. Ukraineaccording to the ministry.
Ukraine is asking for a humanitarian broker in Mariupol
Ukraine’s government on Thursday again called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor in the port city to evacuate 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers who remain sheltered in an underground area, without responding to Russian surrender requests.
“We demand from the Russians an urgent humanitarian corridor near the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. Everyone must be evacuated today,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
“All must be removed from Azovstal today,” he repeated. He also appealed to world leaders and the international community to focus their efforts on Azovstal. “Now is a crucial point and moment for humanitarian efforts,” Vereshchuk said.
Amid the Russian offensive in the country, the governments of Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom have stepped up arms sales to Ukraine.
More than five million Ukrainians have fled the country since the Russian invasion began almost two months ago. On Wednesday the 20th Ukrainian authorities accused Russian troops of violating the ceasefire and blocking the vehicles that were supposed to bring civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol. (*With information from AP, Efe and Reuters)