The Ukrainian wars were holding on to their last skepticism in Mariupol on Friday after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the war, calling the port city “free” following weeks of bombings.
The United States on Thursday, however, disputed Putin’s allegations and said he believed Ukrainian troops were still in control of the city. Putin has ordered his troops to block a massive steel operation in which the Ukrainian people are holding back by rejecting the earlier decision to surrender or die. Ukraine said Putin wanted to avoid a final clash with its troops in Mariupol, as it had no troops to defeat them. But Ukrainian officials also called for help to evacuate civilians and wounded soldiers.
Putin congratulated his Russian defense minister
At a televised conference in the Kremlin, Putin congratulated his Russian defense minister and military on “efforts to fight and liberate Mariupol” and said it was unnecessary to raid an industrial area containing the steel industry Azovstal. There is no need to climb into these cemeteries and crawl under these industrial sites … Block this industrial area so that not even a fly can enter ”said Putin.
Mariupol, a major port in the Ukrainian region east of the Donbas, lies between territories controlled by the Russian and Crimean separatists, on the Black Sea coast of Moscow held in 2014. Capturing the city will allow Russia to link the two areas. As Putin seeks his first prize since his troops were ousted from the capital Kyiv and northern Ukraine last month, he is missing out on Moscow’s mysterious victory after months of fighting in a devastated city.
In his speech last night, Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenskiy said Russia was doing all it could to “speak at least about some victory”, which included uniting new military strategist groups. “They can only postpone the inevitable – the time when the invaders will have to leave our area, including Mariupol, a city that continues to oppose Russia no matter what the residents say,” Zelenskiy said.
Russia calls special military operation
Russia calls its attack a “special military operation” to end the war and “insult” Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false excuse for a war that has killed thousands and displaced a quarter of the Ukrainian population. Moscow intensified its attacks in eastern Ukraine this week and staged long-range strikes in other targeted areas including Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, in which archers killed seven people on Monday.
Washington approved another $ 800 million Ukrainian military aid on Thursday, including heavy artillery and recently revealed “Ghost” drones that were destroyed after attacking their targets. We are in a critical window now where they will set the stage for the next phase of the war, ”said US President Joe Biden.
Mariupol, which once housed 400,000 people, was not the only survivor of a particularly violent conflict when Russian forces invaded February. 24, but also with its worst human tragedy. Ukraine estimates tens of thousands of deaths in Mariupol. The United Nations and the Red Cross say the death toll is in the thousands.
Journalists who arrived in Mariupol during the siege found that the streets were littered with corpses, almost all buildings were destroyed, and residents crowded into cold houses, cooking for remains in temporary stoves or burying corpses in gardens.Ukrainian troops occupy the Azovstal iron ore, one of Europe’s largest steel hubs, covering an area of seven square miles [11 sq km] with high-rise buildings, bases, and tunnels.
“It is important to understand that the survival of the fittest is in the hands of one person – Vladimir Putin. And all the deaths that will occur after the present will be in his hands again,” Boichenko said in an interview. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister IrynaVereshchuk said 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers should be evacuated immediately, blaming Russian troops for failing to establish a safe tunnel they had agreed to. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday proposed a four-day strike to stop the fighting during the Orthodox Easter.
Both Ukrainians and Russians are mostly Orthodox, and they celebrated Easter Sunday on April 24. The Ukrainian organization of churches and religious communities separately proposed the Easter treaty, and the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church urged Ukrainians to abandon Easter night services, fearing Russian. bombings.Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia had “rejected a proposal to establish an Easter agreement”. It was not immediately clear what Zelenskiy was referring to in the deal.
READ ALSO : In a covert attack, Imran Khan blames a Pakistani military official for his expulsion
