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Negotiations between kyiv and Moscow open earlier this week in Istanbul, Ukraine saying it is ready to discuss its neutrality “in depth”, as the humanitarian situation in Mariupol, in the east of the country, is described as “catastrophic”. Follow our live.
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7:45 am: in Mariupol, 50 to 100 daily bombs, 100,000 inhabitants blocked
Uprooted buildings, devastated stores… In Mariupol, 90% of the buildings are destroyed. “The city is constantly under bombs,” said Sergei Orlov, deputy mayor.
According to the mayor of the city, 50 to 100 bombs fall daily on this strategic port city on the Sea of Azov (south-eastern Ukraine). Those who can flee take refuge in Zaporija, 250 kilometers away, displaying the word “child” on the windshield in order to protect themselves. In vain.
Bodies litter the streets. “We dug pits in the city parks and put corpses there by the hundreds,” said a resident. “A garbage truck full of bodies dumped them into the pit.”
They are still 100,000 inhabitants blocked in the besieged city. “It’s not a war, it’s genocide,” said Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine’s chief prosecutor. “Theaters of war have rules, principles. From what we see in Mariupol, there are absolutely no rules.”
Emmanuel Macron had indicated that he would speak to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Monday or Tuesday to organize an evacuation operation from Mariupol.
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6:30 am: “Catastrophic” situation in Mariupol
In the city besieged and bombarded for weeks, “the population is fighting to survive. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic”, affirmed in the night from Sunday to Monday the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Twitter account. “The Russian armed forces are turning the city into dust,” he added, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing for his part a total blockade of this city that the Russian army has been trying to take for weeks.
“All entrances and exits from the city are blocked (…) it is impossible to bring food and medicine into Mariupol,” he said on Sunday evening. “Russian forces are bombing humanitarian aid convoys and killing the drivers,” he added.