Kyiv – Archyde.com
Ukrainian President Oleksiy Arstovich said Saturday that Russian forces have resumed air strikes and are trying to storm the Azovstal steel complex; Where the remaining Ukrainian forces are holed up in Mariupol.
“The enemy is trying to crush the last resistance of the defenders of Mariupol in the Azovstal region,” he said on state television.
On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it was ready “at any moment” for a ceasefire at the Azovstal industrial site, the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, in order to allow the evacuation of civilians “if the fighters surrender.”
“The starting point for this humanitarian truce is the Ukrainian forces to raise the white flags over Azovstal,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, stressing that the civilians who leave will have the option of joining lands under Ukrainian or Russian control.
She added: “This humanitarian initiative taken by the Russian Federation is valid 24 hours a day,” noting that “buses and cars”, as well as ambulances, are always available and ready to “transport people.”
The ministry confirmed that it conveyed this proposal to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk, the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and that this message will also be published every 30 minutes “on all radios of the Ukrainian armed formations in Azovstal”.