Pro-Russian troops ride in an armored personnel carrier during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, April 15, 2022. REUTERS / Alexander Ermochenko
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April 17 (Reuters) – Russia’s Defense Ministry has told Ukrainian forces still fighting in the besieged southern port of Mariupol to lay down their weapons at 6 a.m. Moscow time (0300 GMT) on Sunday to save their lives.
Russia’s earlier claim that its troops have cleared the Mariupol metropolitan area, the site of the worst fighting in the war and the worst humanitarian catastrophe, cannot be confirmed independently. This will be the first major city to fall from Russian forces since the February 24 invasion. Read more
Moscow said other fighters in Mariupol – who it said were Ukrainian and foreign – were blocked at the Azovstal steel plant.
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Given the catastrophic situation that developed at the Azovstal metallurgical plant, and guided by purely humane principles, the Russian armed forces offer fighters from nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries from 06:00 (Moscow time) on April 17, 2022. to stop all hostilities and lay down arms, “the defense ministry said in a statement.
“Everyone who takes up arms is guaranteed that their lives will be spared.
Under the terms of a deal proposed by Russia on Saturday, the remaining defenders at the Azovstal plant will leave Moscow time between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m., without weapons and ammunition.
The beginning of the capitulation will be marked by the raising of flags, the ministry said: “On the Russian side – red, on the Ukrainian side – white, along the entire perimeter of Azovstal.
There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the offer.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky accused Russia on Saturday of “deliberately trying to destroy everyone” in Mariupol and said his government was in contact with defenders. But he did not respond to Moscow’s claim that Ukrainian forces were no longer in urban areas.
“I want to be heard right now: there has not been a day since the beginning of the blockade of Mariupol in which we have not sought a solution – military or diplomatic,” Zelenski said in his evening video address.
“But finding that solution is extremely difficult. So far, there has not been a 100% realistic option.”
Mariupol, with its strategic location on the shores of the Sea of Azov, has been a target since the beginning of the war. It is located on the route between Russia’s annexed Crimean peninsula to the west and the Donetsk region to the east, which has been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Russia’s defense ministry also said it had “evacuated” 168,000 people from Mariupol so far. Ukraine says thousands have been forcibly abandoned.
Efforts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol – some with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross – have repeatedly failed, blaming each other. Read more
The complete conquest of Mariupol will enable Russia to build a land bridge to Crimea and control the entire northern coast of the Sea of Azov.
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Report by David Ljunggren and Lydia Kelly; Edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan Written by Lydia Kelly;
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