the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskysaid today that his country cannot fulfill Russia’s ultimatum to hand over the strategic city of Mariupol because for this the Russian forces would have to destroy the Ukrainian people.
“Ukraine will not be able to meet the ultimatum. We won’t be able to do it physically. How can this be done? They would have to eliminate all of us and then their ultimatum will be fulfilled automatically,” Zelensky said in an interview with European media, an excerpt from which was published by the Ukrainian digital “Obschestvennoye”, reports Ukrinform.
the president of Ukraine noted: “For example, give us Kharkiv, give us Mariupol, give us Kiev. Neither the inhabitants of Mariupol, nor the people of kyiv can do this.”
He added that even in cities already occupied by the Russians, such as Melitopol or Berdyansk, “when they (Russian troops) enter, the people do not surrender. (The Russians) raise the flag, the people lower it. They killed a man, yes, the people hid, but at night they came out and took down the flag again. What do you want? Destroy us all? We can fulfill the ultimatum only when we are no longer around, “emphasized the Ukrainian head of state.
Russian siege of Mariupol
The port city of Mariupolin 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 Mariupol for more than two weeks amid heavy shelling that has cut off central electricity, heating and water supplies, according to local sources.
Russia This Sunday he called on the Ukrainian forces 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 cities, like Dnipro, kyiv and Odessa, of the intensification of an offensive against them. (EFE)