The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines, including 162 officers, had surrendered in the port city of Mariupol, one of the main symbols of the conflict unfolding in Eastern Europe. The Ukrainian defense, in turn, denies having information about the surrender.
The port of Mariupol, the main port on the Sea of ​​Azov, has been in dispute for weeks, driving the city of 400,000 into humanitarian chaos. If taken by the Russians, this would be the first major Ukrainian city to come under Moscow’s control since the start of the war.
Strategically located, it represents for Vladimir Putin’s troops the possibility of building a land bridge between the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, and the Donbass region, where the two self-proclaimed Russian-majority separatist republics that Moscow recognized shortly before are located. to start the invasion — the region where Russian forces are now concentrating their forces.
The Russian defense’s claim could not be independently confirmed. Reuters journalists at the scene reported seeing flames at the Soviet-era Azovstal steel plant, also in Mariupol, on Tuesday night.
A post on the Ukrainian Marines’ official page made on Monday (11) said they were practically out of ammunition and that they were preparing for the final battle, but the content was later denied by local authorities, according to which the page had been previously hacked. .
The Mariupol government says around 100,000 people are still waiting to be evacuated from the city, which has been heavily bombed. But no humanitarian corridors will open on Wednesday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Verechchuk said on a messaging app.
She attributed the impossibility of evacuating civilians to Russian actions, which, she followed, “violate the norms of international law”, making the situation dangerous for the population. The policy says that in Zaporyjia, in the central region of the country, Russian troops blocked the passage of buses and, in Lugansk, in the Donbass, violated the ceasefire. “Occupants cannot effectively control their men,” she said.
Satellite images released by US company Maxar Technologies show hundreds of Russian military vehicles, including tanks, armored vehicles and artillery, taking up positions in eastern Ukraine on a road near the village of Vilkhuvatka, on the outskirts of Kharkiv. Over the past few weeks, the Russians themselves have said they would concentrate troops in the eastern portion.
In Kharkiv, at least seven people are said to have died and 22 were injured after bombings that Governor Oleh Sinegubov blames on Moscow. He said a 2-year-old child was among the victims and that at least 53 artillery attacks were carried out on the city throughout the day.
On the diplomatic front, Kiev is preparing to receive a visit from the presidents of Poland and the Baltic countries —Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia—, who will meet with their Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Lithuanian leader Gitanas Nauseda said in a message on Twitter that the purpose of the visit was to carry a consistent message of political support, but also to discuss increased military assistance.
Meanwhile, Kiev continues to accuse Moscow of committing war crimes and using weapons that are banned or, at least, criticized in international forums. To the Estonian Parliament, Zelensky said again that the Russians have used white phosphorus ammunition, a type of weapon similar to incendiary weapons, which causes serious injuries by burning human flesh deeply.
“The Russian army is using all kinds of artillery, missiles and bombs, especially phosphorus ones, against residential districts and civilian infrastructure; this is terrorism against the civilian population,” said the Ukrainian, who has addressed parliamentarians from different countries weekly. nations in an attempt to garner international support.
