Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday claiming Russian forces had opened an evacuation corridor around the besieged Azovstal Steelworks in Mariupol, a claim denied by a local Ukrainian police officer.
“Given the catastrophic situation that has developed at the Azovstal metallurgical plant in the city of Mariupol, and also guided by purely human principles, the Russian Armed Forces ceased work on April 19, 2022 from 14:00 (14:00 Moscow time). included a humanitarian corridor for the withdrawal of Ukrainian military personnel who voluntarily laid down their arms and militant nationalist formations,” the statement said. “To this end, a ‘ceasefire’ was instituted, all hostilities ceased, units of the Russian armed forces and formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic along the entire Azovstal perimeter were withdrawn to a safe distance.”
The statement also reiterated a call for Ukrainian forces to surrender. “As we are aware that the commanders of the Ukrainian units may not receive such orders and orders from the Kiev authorities, we urge them to make the decision themselves and lay down their arms,” it said.
Myhailo Vershynin, chief of the Mariupol Patrol Police, called Russian conditions “unacceptable” as Ukrainian forces held the facility tight.
“No one will agree with them,” he said. “Exits, corridors, etc., they’ve announced that a thousand times.”
Vershynin said the Azovstal plant, where Ukrainian defenders are holding out and civilians are taking refuge, was hit by “super powerful bombs. And that will continue.”
A video of women and children allegedly taking shelter in the basement of the Azovstal plant in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol surfaced on social media Monday night. Vershynin said the Russians allowed some civilians to leave, but others were reluctant to leave the city via evacuation routes leading into Russian-controlled territory.
“The ones who stayed inside [Azovstal] Shelters are people who basically do not want to go to the DPR [the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic]they want to go to Ukraine,” Vershynin said.
“That’s why we demand: Organize a corridor, the safety of civilians must be guaranteed. The Russians believe it’s a fake. It’s not fake. This is real video filmed in the plant’s shelters Emergency shelters due to the constant shelling. We filmed in a shelter that we could reach. And there are hundreds of such people throughout the territory. she [the Russians] declare humanitarian corridors, a ceasefire. They say come out, surrender, get the civilians out of here. Those civilians who wanted to leave have left. Those who stayed will not go to the Russians. That is why we demand a humanitarian corridor to the Ukrainian side,” Vershynin said.
Russia claims evacuation corridors will open on Wednesday: Later Tuesday night, Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a statement saying it was offering and claiming a ceasefire to Ukrainian forces encircled in the besieged city of Mariupol, effective Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Moscow time (7:00 a.m. ET). , the Ukrainian armed forces would have failed to take advantage of an earlier offer to withdraw and lay down arms.
The Russian statement said that by this time the Russian forces and separatist formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic would cease hostilities along the entire perimeter of the besieged Azovstal steel factory and retreat to a safe distance.
CNN’s Josh Pennington provided coverage for this post.