The city of Mariúpolin the southeast of Ukrainefocuses the attention of the war with Russiain a siege that has been going on for days and that seems to be prolonged.
Some 400,000 people have been trapped in Mariúpol for more than two weeks amid heavy bombardment that has cut off central supplies of electricity, heat and water, according to local sources.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said Monday that the takeover of the port city of Mariupol “is not a matter of two or three days, or even a week.”
“I am not so optimistic as to say that the matter will be resolved in two or three days or in a week. Unfortunately, it is not. This is a big city,” said Denis Pushilin, leader of the separatists of the Donetsk republic, whose independence Moscow recognized at the end of February.
Pushilin, whose words are picked up by Russian public television, said that “several thousand Ukrainian nationalist battalions” remain inside Mariupol.
Ukraine rejects Russian ultimatum
Russia called on the Ukrainian forces this Sunday to surrender and leave Mariupol “without arms”, something that kyiv described as “delirium”.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said today that the Mariupol resistance, heavily bombed by the Russians days ago, is “saving” other citiessuch as Dnipro, kyiv and Odessa, from the intensification of an offensive once morest them.
“The heroic defenders of Mariupol have played a very important role in destroying the enemy’s plans and improving our defense,” said the minister, for whom, thanks to the “courage” of the inhabitants of that city, “they have saved tens of thousands of lives across Ukraine.”
“Today Mariupol is saving kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa. Everyone must understand this,” said the minister in a war report posted on social networks.
Dead in kyiv, the sides exchange blows
The death toll in a bombing last night by Russian forces once morest a shopping center in kyiv now amounts to eight, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office via Telegram.
The shopping center was destroyed as a result of the fire caused by the attack by the Russian forces and the windows of nearby houses and cars parked nearby were also damaged.
Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, since the invasion began on February 24, Ukrainian troops have shot down 100 planes and 120 helicopters, in addition to destroying 500 tanks and 1,500 armored vehicles.
Russia reported today, on the 26th day of its “special military operation” in Ukraine, that its air forces destroyed 44 Ukrainian military targets last night.
The spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashénkov, in a video posted on Telegram, specified that among the targets hit were four command posts, two missile launchers, six Buk anti-aircraft missile systems and other heavy weapons.
“In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 216 drones, 180 anti-aircraft missile systems, 1,506 tanks and other armored vehicles, 152 missile launchers, 592 artillery pieces and mortars, as well as 1,284 military vehicles have been destroyed,” he said. Konashénkov summing up the progress of the campaign.
No prospect of a meeting of leaders
The advances in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are still not enough for a meeting between the leaders of both countries, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Kremlin declared today.
“The degree of progress in the negotiations is probably not as desired as one would like, nor as required by the dynamics of the development of the situation for the Ukrainian side,” said the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, in his conference. daily telephone news.
Zelenski affirmed this Sunday that he is “prepared” to negotiate with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to end hostilities in the country, but ruled out recognizing the independence of Donbas and Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
In an interview with CNN, the Ukrainian president bluntly stated that he will not assume “any commitment that affects the territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Ukraine.
According to the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, the talks to find a solution to the conflict have advanced to the point of reaching “almost an agreement” on most of the issues raised at the negotiating table.
The minister assured that a long road has already been traveled in the talks between the delegations of both parties, but that peace will require a meeting at the highest level.
