“We don’t believe anyone, not a single nice phrase,” says the Ukrainian president in response to Russian assurances that attacks will be reduced. Mariupol and Chernihiv appear to be still under fire.
Russia has announced a ceasefire in the badly damaged southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol. The measure will come into effect on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. (9:00 a.m. CEST) and should create the possibility of taking out civilians via a humanitarian corridor, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was skeptical regarding Russian promises to reduce attacks in northern Ukraine.
In an interview with the Ukrainian media on Thursday night, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk spoke of another attempt at Russian “manipulation”. Zelensky said in his speech: “We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase”. He was referring to the assurance given by Russian negotiators on Tuesday that Moscow would “radically” scale back its attacks on Kyiv and Chernihiv in the north.
However, according to Ukrainian authorities, Chernihiv continued to be shelled. The Ukrainian General Staff said it even expects an “intensification” of Russian fire in the short term. Reporters from the AFP news agency also continued to report explosions from the direction of the embattled Kiev suburb of Irpin.
Russian forces to ‘regroup’
Zelensky reiterated his army’s statements that Russian forces would only regroup so they might attack harder in the Donbass region to the east. “We will not give anything away. We will fight for every meter of our territory,” warned the President.
Further air strikes were reported from numerous towns in eastern Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the city of Kharkiv was shelled with artillery. The Ukrainian army regained control of a strategically important highway from Kharkiv to Chuguyev. “Russian bodies are scattered everywhere,” a Ukrainian intelligence officer told AFP.
Chernihiv still under fire
According to British military intelligence, the shelling of Chernihiv continues. Russian troops continued to hold positions east and west of Kyiv, the British Ministry of Defense said. “Presumably there will be fierce fighting in the suburbs of the city in the coming days.” Mariupol is also still under fire. However, the Ukrainian forces still have the center of the port city on the Azov Sea under control.
‘}”>
Meanwhile, US officials said Russian forces had begun withdrawing from the area around the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant. “We think they’re leaving, but I can’t tell you they’re all gone,” said a Pentagon official who asked to remain anonymous.
“For this humanitarian operation to be successful, we propose direct involvement of representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),” a Russian statement said. The humanitarian corridor is said to lead via the city of Berdyansk, which is under Russian control, to Zaporizhia, 250 kilometers away.
Negotiations continued on Friday?
The Russian ministry asked the government in Kyiv to confirm “unconditional compliance” with the ceasefire by sending a written notification to the Russian side and to the UNHCR and ICRC. Russia had already made several such announcements. However, the evacuation efforts had mostly failed, for which both sides blamed each other.
According to Ukrainian negotiator David Arachamia, negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on a diplomatic settlement of the conflict will continue online on Friday. Most recently, the negotiators met face-to-face in Istanbul on Tuesday, without achieving a breakthrough.
(APA/dpa/AFP)
