Russian President Putin has ordered not to storm the long-contested Mariupol steel mill. Good news? Military experts fear just the opposite.
Two messages were sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a conversation broadcast live on state television. First: The Russian military finally took control of the embattled southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are said to have holed up only on the Azovstal industrial site.
Message number two: The industrial site should no longer be stormed. That’s what Putin ordered. A corresponding order should be withdrawn. The new order: “Block this industrial zone so that not even a fly can come out.”
Vladimir Putin (left) and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (right): Mariupol was completely taken, they said on state television. (Source: Russian Look/imago images)
The fighters in the catacombs should lay down their weapons. “The Russian side guarantees their lives,” Putin said. He spoke of a success and the “liberation of Mariupol” and ordered the military officers involved to be decorated.
Experts fear chemical attack
A step to prevent unnecessary bloodshed? Military experts were critical immediately following the announcement. Carlo Masala from the Bundeswehr University in Munich tweeted: “I translate: He (Putin, Anm. d. Red.) doesn’t want to lose any more of his own people.” That’s why he lets the fighters and civilians on the industrial site starve and die of thirst.
The experts also fear another scenario: the use of chemical weapons. Russia expert Janis Kluge from the German Science and Politics Foundation tweeted: “If a chemical attack on the Azovstal tunnel system were planned, this announcement would be the first step.” Masala also thinks that is possible.
Strategic reasons are also possible
Soldiers and civilians have been holed up in the tunnel system for days. The use of chemical weapons on the industrial site had long been feared by experts. With them, Russia would be able to turn the situation that has been deadlocked for days in its favor. As early as April 12, there had been reports of the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol – At the time, chemical weapons expert Marc-Michael Blum saw “not a big game changer” in an interview with t-online.
Expert Masala also brings strategic reasons for the announcement into play: “He (Putin, Anm. d. Red.) needs its troops in the east.” According to Ukrainian information, the Russian army was recently able to gain little ground in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv front areas there.
For example, although a large part of Luhansk is already under Russian control, no further progress has been made despite intensified attacks this week. The information cannot be checked independently, but it does agree with the assessment of Western secret services. According to information from the USA, the expected large-scale Russian offensive in the Donbass has not materialized so far. This might also require additional troops.
Back to the situation in Mariupol: According to Defense Minister Shoigu, the Ukrainian units are completely blocked. He stressed that the factory should also be taken in three to four days. There are also foreign mercenaries there. No one left the plant via the humanitarian corridors offered, the minister said. Earlier, the Ukrainian side proposed negotiations on the fate of the fighters and the rescue of civilians who had taken refuge in the plant.
Mariupol was encircled by Russian troops shortly following the start of the war of aggression once morest Ukraine ordered by Putin on February 24. The city was largely destroyed in the fighting.
