Zaporizhzhya: Devastated City Mariupol Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that “protests continue” despite Russian claims that he welcomed fresh US aid to help counter Moscow’s eastern offensive.
Russia It is said to have “liberated” the city, with only a few thousand Ukrainian soldiers remaining at the Azovstal plant complex, where thousands more civilians are believed to have also taken refuge.
But Zelensky said the fighting continues, with Russia “doing everything to talk about at least some victory.”
“They can only delay the inevitable – the time when the invaders will have to leave our territory, especially Mariupol, a city that continues to oppose Russia, despite everything the occupiers say,” he said in a statement. Said in the video address.
The southern port city has been the target of frequent Russian attacks as Moscow tries to build a land bridge connecting Crimea and Russian-based separatist states in the Donbass region.
Ukrainian authorities have called for an immediate humanitarian corridor to allow civilians and wounded fighters to leave the giant Azovstal steel plant.
“They have almost no food, water, essential medicine,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
On Thursday, three school buses departed from Mariupol and arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhya after crossing Russian-held territory.
“I don’t want to hear any more bombings,” said 34-year-old Tatiana Dorush, who arrived with her six-year-old son, Maxim.
She said they now only wanted a quiet night and “a bed to sleep in”.
Ukrainian officials had hoped to evacuate many more civilians, but accused the Russian military of targeting a route used to expel civilians.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk said on Telegram: “We apologize to the people of Mariupol, who waited for the evacuation today without any results.”
“The shelling began near the collection point, which forced the corridor to be closed. Dear Mariupol residents … We will not stop trying to get you out of there! Wait!”
Zelensky said Russia had rejected a proposed ceasefire over the Orthodox Christian Easter holiday this weekend.
And he accused Russia of laying the groundwork for a referendum to consolidate its control over regions of eastern Ukraine, urging locals to avoid giving personal data to Moscow’s military.
“It is aimed at falsifying the so-called referendum on your land, if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show,” he warned.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin Accepted Mariupol’s “liberation” as a “success” for the Russian army, and ordered a siege of the Azovstal plant.
“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Shut down this industrial area so that not a single fly can escape,” Putin said.
With Moscow intensifying its attacks in eastern Ukraine, the West is also increasing military aid, including $800 million in new aid from Washington announced Thursday by President Joe Biden.
The Pentagon said the package included howitzers, armored vehicles to tow them, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and tactical drones developed by the US Air Force specifically to meet Ukraine’s needs.
“We are now in a critical window … where they are going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said, adding that Putin “will never succeed in dominating and occupying Ukraine.”
“It won’t happen,” he said.
Zelensky told leaders of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Thursday that his country now needs $7 billion a month to function, accusing Russia of “destroying all goods in Ukraine” that threaten life. Can serve as an economic base.
Meanwhile in a new show of support, the prime ministers of Spain and Denmark visited KyivPledging more military aid.
And Germany, under fire for not giving Zelensky’s government more, said it had agreed to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons with Eastern European partners by indirectly replacing the stock delivered to Kyiv.
Efforts to isolate Moscow continued, Biden announced a ban on Russian-affiliated ships using US ports, and the Organization of American States suspended Russia as a permanent observer.
Moscow announced its new retaliatory measures, imposing travel restrictions on US Vice President Kamala Harris and dozens of other prominent Americans and Canadians.
Meanwhile, around the Ukrainian capital, the grueling work of evacuating and cataloging the bodies left behind after Russia’s withdrawal continued.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, visiting Borodionca near the capital, said he was “shocked at the horrors and atrocities of Putin’s war”.
Ukrainian authorities say bodies of more than 1,000 civilians have been recovered from areas around the capital, and they are working with French investigators to document alleged war crimes.
“All this is being investigated,” the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, Oleksandr Pavliuk, told reporters. “There is no final number of civilians killed.”
“Forensic experts are now examining the bodies, but what we saw were hands tied behind their backs, their legs tied and shots fired in the limbs and in the back of the head,” he said.
And the US private satellite imagery website Maxar released photos it said showed a “mass grave” on the northwestern edge of Manush, 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Mariupol.
In Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, violence has internally displaced more than 7.7 million people, with more than five million fleeing to other countries, according to UN estimates.
But despite the risks, returns have also accelerated in recent weeks, reaching more than a million, according to a spokesman for Kyiv’s Border Force.
In the village of Moshchun, northwest of Kyiv, returnees must sign a waiver acknowledging the risk of death or being crippled by leftover weapons.
Olena Klymenko was ready to take the risk and return to the site of her destroyed home as de-mining efforts continued in the village.
“We found a booby trap in our garden. It looks like it was disarmed. We don’t know,” she told AFP.
“Still, we need to watch our stuff.”
Russia It is said to have “liberated” the city, with only a few thousand Ukrainian soldiers remaining at the Azovstal plant complex, where thousands more civilians are believed to have also taken refuge.
But Zelensky said the fighting continues, with Russia “doing everything to talk about at least some victory.”
“They can only delay the inevitable – the time when the invaders will have to leave our territory, especially Mariupol, a city that continues to oppose Russia, despite everything the occupiers say,” he said in a statement. Said in the video address.
The southern port city has been the target of frequent Russian attacks as Moscow tries to build a land bridge connecting Crimea and Russian-based separatist states in the Donbass region.
Ukrainian authorities have called for an immediate humanitarian corridor to allow civilians and wounded fighters to leave the giant Azovstal steel plant.
“They have almost no food, water, essential medicine,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
On Thursday, three school buses departed from Mariupol and arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhya after crossing Russian-held territory.
“I don’t want to hear any more bombings,” said 34-year-old Tatiana Dorush, who arrived with her six-year-old son, Maxim.
She said they now only wanted a quiet night and “a bed to sleep in”.
Ukrainian officials had hoped to evacuate many more civilians, but accused the Russian military of targeting a route used to expel civilians.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk said on Telegram: “We apologize to the people of Mariupol, who waited for the evacuation today without any results.”
“The shelling began near the collection point, which forced the corridor to be closed. Dear Mariupol residents … We will not stop trying to get you out of there! Wait!”
Zelensky said Russia had rejected a proposed ceasefire over the Orthodox Christian Easter holiday this weekend.
And he accused Russia of laying the groundwork for a referendum to consolidate its control over regions of eastern Ukraine, urging locals to avoid giving personal data to Moscow’s military.
“It is aimed at falsifying the so-called referendum on your land, if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show,” he warned.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin Accepted Mariupol’s “liberation” as a “success” for the Russian army, and ordered a siege of the Azovstal plant.
“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Shut down this industrial area so that not a single fly can escape,” Putin said.
With Moscow intensifying its attacks in eastern Ukraine, the West is also increasing military aid, including $800 million in new aid from Washington announced Thursday by President Joe Biden.
The Pentagon said the package included howitzers, armored vehicles to tow them, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and tactical drones developed by the US Air Force specifically to meet Ukraine’s needs.
“We are now in a critical window … where they are going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” Biden said, adding that Putin “will never succeed in dominating and occupying Ukraine.”
“It won’t happen,” he said.
Zelensky told leaders of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Thursday that his country now needs $7 billion a month to function, accusing Russia of “destroying all goods in Ukraine” that threaten life. Can serve as an economic base.
Meanwhile in a new show of support, the prime ministers of Spain and Denmark visited KyivPledging more military aid.
And Germany, under fire for not giving Zelensky’s government more, said it had agreed to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons with Eastern European partners by indirectly replacing the stock delivered to Kyiv.
Efforts to isolate Moscow continued, Biden announced a ban on Russian-affiliated ships using US ports, and the Organization of American States suspended Russia as a permanent observer.
Moscow announced its new retaliatory measures, imposing travel restrictions on US Vice President Kamala Harris and dozens of other prominent Americans and Canadians.
Meanwhile, around the Ukrainian capital, the grueling work of evacuating and cataloging the bodies left behind after Russia’s withdrawal continued.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, visiting Borodionca near the capital, said he was “shocked at the horrors and atrocities of Putin’s war”.
Ukrainian authorities say bodies of more than 1,000 civilians have been recovered from areas around the capital, and they are working with French investigators to document alleged war crimes.
“All this is being investigated,” the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, Oleksandr Pavliuk, told reporters. “There is no final number of civilians killed.”
“Forensic experts are now examining the bodies, but what we saw were hands tied behind their backs, their legs tied and shots fired in the limbs and in the back of the head,” he said.
And the US private satellite imagery website Maxar released photos it said showed a “mass grave” on the northwestern edge of Manush, 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Mariupol.
In Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, violence has internally displaced more than 7.7 million people, with more than five million fleeing to other countries, according to UN estimates.
But despite the risks, returns have also accelerated in recent weeks, reaching more than a million, according to a spokesman for Kyiv’s Border Force.
In the village of Moshchun, northwest of Kyiv, returnees must sign a waiver acknowledging the risk of death or being crippled by leftover weapons.
Olena Klymenko was ready to take the risk and return to the site of her destroyed home as de-mining efforts continued in the village.
“We found a booby trap in our garden. It looks like it was disarmed. We don’t know,” she told AFP.
“Still, we need to watch our stuff.”