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War in Ukraine: the UN sends a new convoy to evacuate Azovstal, the Ukrainians deny any truce

2022-05-05T21:04:41.192Z


The information is contradictory on a ceasefire or not held by the Russians. The UN announced on Thursday the dispatch of a new convoy to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, the last pocket of resistance to Russian forces in this strategic Donbass port, even if the Ukrainians accused Moscow of not not keep his promise of truce there. Information about the situation in the huge Mariupol steel plant was contradictory. Russian President Vladimir Putin s


The UN announced on Thursday the dispatch of a new convoy to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, the last pocket of resistance to Russian forces in this strategic Donbass port, even if the Ukrainians accused Moscow of not not keep his promise of truce there.

Information about the situation in the huge Mariupol steel plant was contradictory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday evening that "the Russian army was always ready to ensure the evacuation of civilians" from Azovstal, who could be another 200 trapped with Ukrainian fighters in this complex.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile also said the Russian military was respecting the ceasefire around the plant, which it announced for three days on Wednesday.

And affirmed that humanitarian corridors around Azovstal "worked" this Thursday.

But the deputy commander of the Azov regiment which defends these installations, Sviatoslav Palamar, assured in a video that "bloody fights" were taking place inside the site itself and that the Russians "did not keep their promise" of truce.

An adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Olexiï Arestovitch, for his part said that the Russians who arrived at the factory had initially been "repelled".

But he refused to say more, stressing that he had "contradictory" information.

Despite the uncertainty over the situation at the steel plant, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths announced that a new UN convoy was heading towards it.

“As we speak, a convoy is on its way to arrive in Azovstal by tomorrow morning with the hope of recovering the remaining civilians from this dark hell, which they have inhabited for so many weeks and months, and to bring them back to safety,” Martin Griffiths said in Warsaw.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has confirmed that it is associated with it.

A hundred civilians had already been able to leave this complex last weekend, during an evacuation organized with the UN and the ICRC.

An important victory before May 9

The total capture of Mariupol, a pre-war port city of nearly 500,000 inhabitants devastated by two months of Russian siege and bombardment, would be a significant victory for Russia as it approaches May 9, the day it celebrates with a large military parade in Red Square his victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

The Ukrainians claimed that the Russians were preparing to hold one in Mariupol that day as well.

Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has only been able to claim full control of one major city, that of Kherson, in the south.

Dmitri Peskov acknowledged Thursday that Western support had slowed down the offensive launched on February 24.

Read alsoWar in Ukraine: what would change the capture of Mariupol by the Russians

“The United States, the United Kingdom, NATO as a whole constantly share intelligence data with the Ukrainian armed forces.

Combined with arms supplies (...), these actions do not allow the offensive to be completed quickly," he said, after the New York Times wrote that the intelligence provided by Washington to kyiv had allowed to target several Russian generals.

These actions "cannot, however, prevent" Russia from achieving its "objectives" in Ukraine, he added, after 10 weeks of a military operation that left thousands dead and led to exile more than five million Ukrainians.

In this context, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who continues to demand more sanctions against Russia and more arms deliveries, launched a global fundraising campaign for Ukraine on Thursday, via a platform.

“With one click, you can donate funds to help our defenders, save our civilians and rebuild Ukraine,” he explained in a video on Twitter.

The platform's homepage offers a choice between a donation to finance defence, medical aid or reconstruction.

More than six billion euros "to help Ukraine and all those who support it" were collected during an international donor conference in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Thursday.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2022-05-05

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