Ukraine Moscow Ukrainians expelled from Mariupol

Ukraine – Moscow: Ukrainians expelled from Mariupol

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has threatened to end negotiations with Moscow if Russia “eliminates” the last Ukrainian troops in the port city of Mariupol. It would be a “dead end” for both sides because we are not negotiating either over our territories or our people, Zelenskyi told the Ukrainska Pravda news website on Saturday.

Mariupol has been under siege since the first days after the Russian invasion on 24 February. The city, which once had more than 400,000 inhabitants, is now largely destroyed and the humanitarian situation is catastrophic. Selenskyj recently spoke of “tens of thousands” killed in the siege. On Saturday, he again accused Russia of not allowing escape corridors.

According to official reports, several people were killed in further attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the eastern Ukrainian metropolis Kharkiv. According to reports from Saturday, there were also air strikes in other parts of Ukraine.

In the new attack on Kiev, the production facilities of a tank factory were destroyed, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow. In turn, the Ukrainian side spoke of a Russian rocket attack in the Darnyzja district, in the south-east of the metropolis, in which a person was allegedly killed. In addition, several people with life-threatening injuries were taken to hospital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on television on Saturday.

On the Telegram news channel, Klitschko appealed to the capital’s population not to simply ignore the authorities’ air warning. There are air alerts several times a day in the Ukrainian capital. As people who fled the first wave of Russian attacks are now returning to Kiev, the mayor called for this to be stopped and for them to stay in safe places.

Moscow recently threatened attacks on command centers in Kiev after the Ukrainian military reportedly bombed Russian territory. Meanwhile, at least one person was killed and 18 others were injured in an attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Attacks were also reported in western Ukraine in the Lviv region and at a military airfield in Oleksandriya in central Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the first seven weeks of the war. These are the highest numbers reported so far for losses in their own ranks. Zelenskyj put the number of Russian soldiers killed at 20,000 on the American television channel CNN. Moscow, on the other hand, officially reports 1,351 dead Russian soldiers.

The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region said Russia had already assembled tens of thousands of troops for an offensive in the near future. In addition, hundreds of technology units were transported to the region, said Serhij Hajdaj. “They already have everything ready for a breakthrough.” In his estimation, Russian troops were just waiting for better weather to launch their attacks on the Luhansk and Donetsk regions at the same time. According to weather forecasts, rain is expected to stop in both regions by the middle of next week.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak once again complained that the weapons “we asked for” did not come from Europe. Zelenskyj also called for an embargo on Russian oil.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised Zelenskyy the delivery of armed vehicles in the coming days. Johnson assured Selenskyj that Britain would continue to supply Ukraine with material to defend itself, Downing Street said in a statement late on Saturday.

The two heads of government also discussed the need for a long-term solution to Ukraine’s security. Johnson said he will work closely with partners and allies to ensure the country can defend its sovereignty in the coming weeks and months. Johnson met Selenskyj in person in Kiev last week.

According to Ukrainian data, today a total of 1,449 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors. This is a decrease from 2,864 the day before, a government official announced on the Internet.