Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: the point on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
DIRECT RTL INFO
6:33 a.m. – “Inhuman” situation in Mariupol
The situation in the strategic port of Mariupol is “inhuman”, declared the Ukrainian president on Saturday evening, calling on the West to “immediately” provide the heavy weapons he has been demanding for several weeks, while Russia claims to control almost all of the city and launches a new appeal to its last defenders to lay down their arms. “The situation in Mariupol remains as serious as it can be. Simply inhuman”launched Volodymyr Zelensky in a video message. “That’s what the Russian Federation did. Did it deliberately. (…) Russia is deliberately trying to destroy anyone in Mariupol,” in southeastern Ukraine.
According to him, there are only “two options”: “Either the partners provide Ukraine with all the necessary heavy weapons, aircraft and, without any exaggeration, immediately” to “reduce the pressure on Mariupol and lift the siege” of this city inhabited by 441,000 people before the invasion on February 24.
4:59 a.m. – Russia claims to have shot down a plane full of Western weapons
Russian anti-aircraft defenses reportedly shot down a plane carrying weapons from the West near the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Saturday, according to statements by the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense to the Russian news agency TASS.
According to this source, it was a large shipment. The official gave no further details except that it was a Ukrainian Air Force plane. However, this information might not be independently verified. Ukraine has received massive arms shipments from its Western allies since the Russian invasion began on February 24. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday night that many more weapons were needed to win the war.
4:39 a.m. – Russia guarantees the lives of Ukrainian soldiers from Mariupol who surrender
Russia on Sunday urged the Ukrainian military in Mariupol, a port city in the east of the country besieged by Russian forces, to cease hostilities and lay down their arms from 06:00 Moscow time (05:00 Belgian time) and assured that their life would be guaranteed. This was announced by the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, according to the official Tass news agency.
The strategic site of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, is one of the main objectives of the Russians in their effort to take full control of the Donbass region and form a land corridor to the east of the country from the annexed Crimean peninsula.
2:22 a.m. – Around 1,450 people evacuated from besieged areas in Ukraine on Saturday
About 1,450 people were evacuated from areas besieged by Russia in Ukraine on Saturday, kyiv announced overnight.
Some 1,380 people were thus brought to Zaporizhia from various towns in the south and east of the country, according to an announcement made on Telegram. Among them were 170 people from the badly affected and largely destroyed port city of Mariupol. In the Luhansk region, 68 people were brought to safety. A planned evacuation of the city of Lysytchansk, however, might not take place due to a “massive bombardment”. At the same time, Moscow said that “despite the obstacles caused by Kyiv”, around 15,800 people were evacuated to Russia from besieged Ukrainian regions in 24 hours, without the intervention of Ukrainian authorities. For weeks, kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of sabotaging the evacuation of civilians. Claims that cannot be independently verified.
11:39 p.m. – Moscow claims to have cleared Mariupol of Ukrainian troops
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims to have “completely cleaned” Mariupol. State news agencies Tass and RIA thus announced on Saturday evening that no Ukrainian troops are active in the urban area of the port city. Only a few members of the Azov Battalion, which has taken refuge in an industrial complex, are still resisting, but they are completely cut off from the outside world, according to statements from Russia.
According to Moscow, 23,367 Ukrainian soldiers and mercenaries have been eliminated in total since the start of the war on February 24. Among them were members of the Ukrainian army, National Guard and foreign mercenaries, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday. According to the same source, of all these victims, 4,000 people were killed in the city of Mariupol alone, which is largely in ruins. Nearly 1,500 soldiers would also have surrendered to date, he added, without however being able to provide proof of his assertions. Ukraine gives a much lower figure for casualties in its own ranks, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying in an interview published Friday that between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the conflict so far. The Ukrainian president had, at the same time, estimated the number of dead on the Russian side at around 20,000. Moscow, for its part, continues to quantify its own losses at around 1,350. Kyiv had previously indicated that the situation in Mariupol was “very difficult” and that the humanitarian crisis was not abating.
9:59 p.m. – Zelensky calls on the world to “prepare” for a possible Russian nuclear attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on the world to “prepare” for Russia’s possible use of its nuclear weapons, during an interview with several Ukrainian media.
“We should not wait for the moment when Russia decides to use its nuclear weapons. We must prepare for that”, he said during this interview broadcast by six Ukrainian news sites, as well as by the Ukrainian presidency on Telegram. It’s necessary “drugs ( once morest radiation), air-raid shelters”, he asserted. “You have to talk to them, sign treaties, get tough economically. (The Russians) can use any weapon, I’m convinced of that.”
