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Russian troops launch renewed attacks on the steelworks near Mariupol

2022-04-23T13:51:20.858Z


According to Ukraine, Russia has started attacks again on the Azovsteel steel plant in Mariupol. Moldova fears Russia's expansion amid a new attempt to rescue civilians.


Enlarge image

Smoke over the Mariupol Steelworks on April 18

Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS

Russian troops have resumed attacks on the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian sources said.

"The enemy is trying to smother the last resistance of the Mariupol defenders," said presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych in a video message on Saturday.

Artillery and air force would be used.

However, the Ukrainian soldiers held their positions and "even launched counterattacks."

The information cannot be verified.

While Moscow says it "liberated" Mariupol, according to Kyiv, the port city remains contested.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on Thursday not to storm the bunkers dating back to the Cold War.

This should avoid own losses.

The port city on the Sea of ​​Azov was completely surrounded by Russian troops two months ago shortly after the start of the Russian war of aggression.

Kyiv estimates that more than 20,000 people have been killed as a result of the fighting.

Satellite images showed locations of possible mass graves.

New attempt to rescue civilians from Mariupol

Despite the Orthodox Easter, there has been no ceasefire in Ukraine, despite all international appeals.

For the civilians who had been surrounded for weeks in the largely destroyed Mariupol, there was still a glimmer of hope: According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk, a new attempt to rescue civilians via an escape corridor should be made.

"Today we will try again to bring women, children and the elderly to safety," said Vereshchuk.

It was therefore planned that the evacuation action in the direction of Zaporizhia should begin around noon.

A ceasefire was supposed to start for the evacuation, but there was initially no detailed information about this.

In the past, several attempts to open escape corridors for civilians from Mariupol had failed.

Located on the Sea of ​​Azov, Mariupol, once populated by 450,000, is considered strategically extremely important.

Russian General Rustam Minnekayev said on Friday that the task of the Russian army in the "second phase" of the conflict was to achieve "complete control of the Donbass and southern Ukraine".

Concerns in Moldova over Russia's plans in Donbass and southern Ukraine

The aim is to create a land connection to annexed Crimea and to the Transnistria region in Moldova controlled by pro-Russian separatists, said Minneyakev.

Referring to Transnistria, he spoke of an alleged "oppression" of the Russian-speaking population there.

The statements triggered unrest in Moldova.

The foreign ministry in Chisinau summoned the Russian ambassador and called on Moscow to respect the country's "territorial sovereignty" and "neutrality."

Internationally, there are fears that the Ukraine war could spread to the former Soviet Republic of Moldova.

The government in Chisinau is pro-Western and, like Kyiv, is striving for EU membership.

Moscow justified the invasion of Ukraine, among other things, with the alleged oppression of Russian-speaking people in the Donbass.

In his video message on Friday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Minnekayev's statements should be taken seriously: "This confirms what I have said several times: The Russian invasion of Ukraine is only intended as a start."

Ukraine claims to have recaptured several places

According to Kiev, the Russian army is making slower progress than expected.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Sinehubov, said on Saturday that after "bitter fighting" the Ukrainian troops had managed to recapture the towns of Bezruki, Slatine and Prudjanka near the Russian border.

Russia has repeatedly urged Ukrainian fighters to surrender.

There are also said to be hundreds of civilians on the Azov-Stahl industrial site who have little access to water or food.

The nationalist Ukrainian Azov Battalion released a new video on Saturday showing dozens of women and children in the basements of the facility.

In a phone call with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Friday, EU Council President Charles Michel appealed for humanitarian access to Mariupol to be allowed.

In addition, there must be safe escape corridors for people from Mariupol and other besieged cities, Michel tweeted.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks also continued in Donbass.

The village of Lysychansk, just 14 kilometers from the Russian positions, looked like a ghost town over the weekend, with only a small shop operating there after a food market was bombed.

The Ukrainian authorities in the Luhansk region also reported continuous attacks.

While Governor Serhiy Gajdaj called on people to get to safety via escape corridors, doctors, nurses and volunteers held out in the war-torn Severodonetsk hospital.

"We will stay here until the last patient," assured director Roman Wodjanik.

kig/dpa/afp

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-04-23

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