Russian forces carried out attacks on Sunday against the Azovstal plant, the last stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the port city of Mariupol, Kiev officials said.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces command said Russia opened fire and carried out “offensive operations” there.
“We are suffering casualties, the situation is critical […] We have many wounded men, [alguns] are dying, it’s a [situação] difficult with regard to weapons, ammo, food, medicine […] The situation is rapidly worsening,” the commander of the Ukrainian Navy’s 36th brigade, Serhii Volina, said in a video posted on YouTube from his position at the steel complex.
Konstantin Ivaschenko, appointed by Russia as mayor of Mariupol after the city’s occupation, denied that fighting was taking place there, Russian news agency Tass reported. Kiev’s and Moscow’s claims could not be independently verified.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the city, even as he ordered the country’s army not to attack Ukrainian fighters besieged in the Azovstal compound. In a televised meeting, he ordered his defense minister to block the plant “so that not even a fly could get through” instead of trying to break into it.
On Saturday (23), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenki said that Ukraine will abandon peace talks if Russia kills the Ukrainian military entrenched at the Azovstal plant. “If our men are murdered in Mariupol […]Ukraine will withdraw from the entire negotiation process,” Zelensky told a news conference in Kiev.
Civilians remain under siege in Mariupol and no humanitarian corridors were opened on Sunday due to Russian attacks, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshtchuk said. The UN on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Mariupol to evacuate around 100,000 civilians trapped in the city, which is now almost entirely controlled by the Russian army.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were expected in Kiev on Sunday for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the highest-level visit by US officials to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion two months ago.
However, until 21:00 in Kiev (15:00 in BrasÃlia), there was no information that the American envoys were on Ukrainian soil. The White House did not comment.
Zelensky said the day before that he would discuss with Blinken and Austin what kind of weaponry Ukraine would need to fight the invasion. He also said he hopes President Joe Biden will come to Kiev to “support the Ukrainian people” when the security situation allows.
The US delegation’s visit comes at a time of advancing Moscow’s offensive into eastern and southern Ukraine. Civilians died in Russian attacks in the Lugansk region on Sunday, Governor Serhii Gaida said.
“Today, again, civilians died. Our countrymen. They [os russos] do not believe in anything sacred,” the governor said in a video address on the occasion of Orthodox Easter, celebrated this Sunday.
Also on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with Zelensky and stressed the need to evacuate civilians from Mariupol. According to a statement from the Turkish presidency, Erdogan said the situation in Mariupol “gets sadder every day”.
The Turk also pledged support in negotiations between Kiev and Moscow for a ceasefire. “President Erdogan said he was ready to offer all the assistance he could during the negotiation process and to offer the necessary support, including mediation,” the statement reads,
Erdogan is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday (25). In March, Turkey hosted a round of negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers.
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko on Sunday defended international support for Kiev as an essential tool to defeat the Russian invasion. “One of the best weapons we have now against [Vladimir] Putin is international support and solidarity. This is something that really bothers him,” Yuschenko, who ruled Ukraine from 2005 to 2010, wrote in an op-ed in the British newspaper The Guardian.
He says that, even though he was the target of attacks by Putin during his election campaign, he sought to maintain a working relationship with the leader of the neighboring country after he became president. “But the Putin I dealt with no longer exists. Since then, he has become a brutal and completely isolated despot who does not accept any opposition,” the article reads.
“This war is a turning point, not only in Ukrainian history, but in the defense of democracy. This is not just a regional conflict between Ukraine and Russia but a struggle against tyranny and imperialism.”
Pope Francis has reinforced his call for a truce in the war between Russia and Ukraine amid the celebration of Orthodox Easter.
“It is sad that weapons are increasingly taking the place of words. I renew the call for an Easter truce, the smallest tangible sign of a desire for peace. Sunday Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Square. Ukrainian flags could be seen in the crowd.
