The war in Ukraine has entered its eighth week with the threat of the great offensive announced by Russia in the east of the country, in the Donbas region, which seems imminent. The ultimatum issued by the Russian Army to the Ukrainian troops entrenched in the strategic city of Mariupol to surrender has expired this half day and everything seems to indicate that there will be no surrender and that the resistance will continue, despite the enormous difference in forces. The General Staff of the Ukrainian army previously reported that significant troop movements by the Kremlin had been detected in the eastern regions.
The last defenders of Mariupol still occupy sectors of the city and “will fight to the end,” he said. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal, in an interview broadcast on Sunday by the American television network ABC. “The city has not fallen. Our military forces, our soldiers are still there. They will fight to the end,” she said. The mayor’s office of the besieged city estimates that since the beginning of the Russian invasion 21,000 people have died there, while another 100,000 citizens are still trapped without being able to leave.
Ukrainian soldiers besieged in Mariupol appear to have ignored Russia’s ultimatum to lay down their arms, with guarantees that their lives will be spared, and evacuate this strategic port in southeastern Ukraine. If Russian troops take control of this port city, they would ensure control of the coast of the sea of azov and a direct broker towards the Crimea peninsula, annexed to Russia in 2014.
free from occupation
The Ukrainian prime minister has also rejected recent claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow’s troops were winning the war. “Not a single great city has fallen. Only Kherson is under the control of the Russian forces, but all the other cities are under the control of Ukraine,” Chmygal insisted, specifying that more than 900 municipalities, including the capital, kyiv, remained free from Russian occupation. ” We are currently fighting in the Donbas region and we have no intention of giving up,” he insisted.
In an interview also broadcast this Sunday by another US television network, CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has ruled out the idea of letting Moscow seize the Donbas region and parts of the east of the country to stop the bloodbath. “Ukraine and its people are clear about it. We have no right to anyone else’s territories, but we are not going to give up ours,” she said. Zelenski warned this Saturday that “the elimination” of soldiers in Mariúpol “would put an end to any peace negotiations” with Moscow. In this sense, he admitted that if this happens, Russia and Ukraine would find themselves in a “dead end”.
At least five people have died in recent hours in a series of attacks in the center of Kharkiv, second city of the country located to the northeast of the country. Another 13 people have been injured in the attacks. Kharkiv has been suffering from air strikes for days, one of which, on Saturdayimpacted the premises used by the NGO ‘World Central Kitchen‘ (WCT), founded by the Spanish chef Jose Andresfor its “solidarity kitchen” action.
humanitarian corridors
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Four members of his team were injured, the director of the NGO, Nate Mook, reported through social networks. The team moved this Sunday to another location in the city to continue with its work to distribute food to affected civilians. The WCT has been active in different parts of the Ukraine since practically the beginning of the Russian invasion. Its founder, José Andrés, began his work on the ground in Polish cities where the first refugees arrived, to later move on to other parts of the Ukraine.
This Sunday humanitarian corridors have not been opened for the evacuation of civilians from any of the Ukrainian regions under siege, after kyiv stated that the Russian side has not offered security guarantees for these operations. Some 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine since February 24, according to the UN, which says that 40,200 more refugees left their country in the last 24 hours.