Mariupol, a key town in southeastern Ukraine that has been surrounded by Russian forces for over three weeks and under indiscriminate bombardment, is on the verge of fall. Faced with strong Ukrainian resistance, the Russian military said it used hypersonic missiles for the second day in a row. Russian President Vladimir Putin showed off his ‘political strength’ by appearing at the ceremony to commemorate the annexation of the Krm Peninsula (Crimea).
According to foreign media such as AP and Archyde.com on the 19th (local time), Russian troops have entered the city center in Mariupol and are fighting fiercely with Ukrainian forces in a city street. Mariupol had been blocking the Russian army on the outskirts of the city for three weeks after the start of the war, but the defense lines in the city were breached. An official from the mayor’s office Mariupol said on the same day that “fights are taking place all over the city,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. Mariupol Mayor Vadim Wojchenko said: “Our military is doing everything it can, but unfortunately the enemy’s size is bigger than ours.” “It appears that Ukrainian forces are losing control of the city as Russian forces advance deep into the city,” the Washington Post said. Ukrainian authorities say fierce battles have erupted over Azovstall, Europe’s largest metallurgical plant in Mariupol, and most of the plant’s facilities have been destroyed.
Mariupol is being devastated by the concentrated Russian offensive. The entire city was under siege and water, electricity and food were cut off for several weeks, and not only military facilities but also hospitals, apartments, and theaters used as shelters for civilians were bombarded indiscriminately. The death toll continued and the place was turned into ruins. According to city officials, 2,500 people have been killed since the start of the war and the evacuation of civilians has been delayed. Mariupol Police Officer Mihailo Verschnin said in a video message to US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders on the 18th, “Children and the elderly are dying. Cities will be destroyed and disappear from the planet.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The continued attack by Russian forces on the besieged Mariupol is an act of terror that will be remembered for centuries.”
A view of Mariupol, which was destroyed by Russian bombing, on the 19th. /EPA Yonhap News
The port city of Mariupol is located on the road that crosses the Krm Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, and eastern Ukraine and the Russian mainland. If the Russian military takes control of Mariupol following southern Kherson, the Russian military will be able to secure a land route from the Krm Peninsula, which was forcibly annexed in 2014, through the eastern Donbas region controlled by pro-Russian separatists to the Russian border. “The occupation of Mariupol will significantly expand the Russian supply capacity and allow more troops to be deployed into Ukraine,” Barry Pavel of the Atlantic Council, a think tank, told the WSJ. Occupying Mariupol makes it easier not only to advance to Kiiu, but also to mobilize fighters from mainland Russia.
Putin’s anger is also cited as the background of the general offensive against Mariupol. The Russian army expected that Mariupol would be easily captured due to the large number of Russian-speaking residents, but as the resistance continued, the advance of the entire Russian army was delayed. “Russian commanders want to show Putin the results,” said Emily Harding, a former CIA analyst and former Senate Intelligence Committee fellow. It’s going to be something to show off,” he told The WSJ. Earlier, it was reported that Putin fired about eight high-ranking military generals, accusing them of failing to occupy Ukraine in a short period of time.
In Mikolayu, on the road to the key point of the southwest of Odessa, the barracks of the Army’s 79th Brigade, including quarters for military officers and their families, were hit by missiles. Ukrainian military officials said a bomb was dropped on the barracks where 200 people were sleeping and at least 50 bodies were found. The number of casualties is expected to rise as rescue operations continue from the rubble of the building.
According to the Associated Press, the Russian military said on the 20th that it used a hypersonic missile “Kh-47M2” to destroy a military fuel and lubricant storage near the Kostentinyuka settlement in the Mykolayau region. The Russian military said on the previous day that the Kinzal missile had destroyed a large-scale storage facility for the Ukrainian military’s missile and aircraft ammunition in Delaitin in the southwestern Ivano-Frankivsk region. Delaitin is located only 60 km from the border with Romania, a member of the NATO. The Kinzal is said to fly at a hypersonic speed of Mach 10 and has a maximum range of 2000 km. It has not been confirmed whether the missiles used by the Russian military were Kinzal, but senior US officials have confirmed that the missiles were hypersonic, CNN reported. As the war escalated, it appears that Russia used hypersonic missiles, dubbed ‘game-changers’, to turn the tide of war.
Putin made his public appearance for the first time since the start of the war by participating in a ceremony to mark the 8th anniversary of the annexation of the Khrm Peninsula in Moscow on the 18th. A crowd of 200,000 gathered to support Putin, the New York Times reported. It is interpreted that he dismissed the rumors about Putin’s health abnormalities and the possibility of a coup d’etat raised by some in the West and showed off that his political position is still strong.
Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to give a speech at a ceremony commemorating the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in Moscow on the 18th. / Sputnik Yonhap News