- The fighters who surrender in Mariupol will be spared – Moscow
- Two hours after the broadcast window, there are no activity reports
- Russia says the urban area of the Ukrainian port city has been cleared
- The explosion hit Kyiv, local media reported
- Ukraine: Mariupol situation “very difficult”
April 17 (Reuters) – Russia has told Ukrainian forces fighting in Mariupol to lay down their arms Sunday morning to save their lives, but there have been no immediate reports of activity three hours after the ultimatum came into force at 03:00 GMT in the strategic southeast port.
Air raid sirens sounded throughout the country early in the day, a regular occurrence, and a morning report by the Ukrainian military said Russian air strikes on Mariupol continued as long as there were “assault operations near the seaport.”
Local media reported an explosion in the capital, Kyiv, but Nikola Povoroznik, the city’s deputy mayor, said there were no explosions and that air defense systems had prevented Russian attacks.
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Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops had cleared the Mariupol metropolitan area and only a small contingent of Ukrainian fighters remained in giant steel production on Saturday.
Moscow’s claim that it has taken control of Mariupol, the scene of the worst battles 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.
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. Read more
“Everyone who takes up arms is guaranteed that their lives will be spared,” the statement said, adding that defenders could leave the plant by 10 a.m. without weapons and ammunition.
There was no immediate response from Kyiv.
The Azovstal plant, described as a fortress in the city, is located in an industrial zone overlooking the Sea of Azov and covers more than 11 square kilometers (4 square miles), containing countless buildings, blast furnaces and railways. Read more
Defenders of the city include Ukrainian Marines, motorized brigades, a brigade of the National Guard and the Azov Regiment, a militia created by far-right nationalists, which was later included in the National Guard. It was not immediately known how many were in the steel plant.
“The situation is very difficult” in Mariupol, President Vladimir Zelensky told the Ukrainian Justice news portal. “Our soldiers are blocked, the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis … However, the boys are defending themselves.”
The Ukrainian military says Russian warplanes taking off from Belarus have fired missiles at the Lviv region near the Polish border and four cruise missiles have been shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses.
The western city, relatively unharmed so far, has served as a refuge for refugees and international aid agencies.
TWISTED STEEL, CONCRETE CONCRETE
In Mariupol, Reuters reporters reached the giant Ilyich steel plant, one of two metallurgical plants where defenders were trapped in underground tunnels and bunkers. Moscow says it captured him on Friday.
The factory was turned into ruins of twisted steel and exploded concrete, without any traces of defenders present. Several bodies of civilians lay scattered in the nearby streets.
Russia’s defense ministry says its troops have “completely cleared” the Mariupol metropolitan area of Ukrainian forces and blocked the “remains” at the Azovstal steel plant, RIA reported. It says that by Saturday, Ukrainian forces in the city had lost more than 4,000 people.
Zelensky accused Russia of “deliberately trying to destroy everyone” in Mariupol and said his government was in contact with defenders. He did not respond to Moscow’s claim that Ukrainian forces were no longer in urban areas.
He also said that the “destruction” of the fighters in Mariupol would put an end to any form of negotiations with Russia.
Russia said on Friday it would step up long-range strikes in retaliation for unspecified acts of “sabotage” and “terrorism” hours after confirming the sinking of its flagship in the Black Sea, Moscow.
Kyiv and Washington say the ship, whose sinking has become a symbol of Ukrainian disobedience, has been hit by Ukrainian missiles. Moscow says it sank after a fire and its crew of about 500 people was evacuated.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has released a video of a meeting between Navy Chief Admiral Nikolai Evmenov at a parade ground with about 100 sailors said to be crew members.
THE BIGGEST AWARD IN RUSSIA
If Mariupol falls, it will be Russia’s biggest war award to date. It is the main port of Donbass, a region of two southeastern provinces that Moscow wants to be completely ceded to separatists.
Ukraine says it has so far deterred Russian attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where at least one person was killed in a shelling night. Read more
Ukraine prevailed in the early stages of the war, in part by successfully deploying mobile units armed with anti-tank missiles delivered from the West against Russian armored convoys confined to muddy roads.
But Putin seems determined to take more territory in the Donbass to claim victory in a war that has left Russia subject to increasingly punitive Western sanctions and few allies.
The upcoming round of EU sanctions against Russia will target banks, including Sberbank (SBER.MM), as well as oil, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
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Report by Reuters journalists in Kyiv, Lviv and Mariupol and Reuters offices around the world; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Edited by William Mallard
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.
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