Ukraine says Russia is sending mercenaries to Syria and Libya
Russia declares occupation of Mariupol… Proposal of control of East and South
Guterres and Zelensky meet in Kieu on the 28th
A destroyed theater in Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine. Russia announced on the 21st that it had captured Mariupol. 2022.4.22 TAS Yonhap News
The Associated Press reported on the 22nd (local time) that Russia, which presented a ‘second-stage operational goal’ for the invasion of Ukraine, is moving its elite troops from the southeastern port city of Mariupol to the Donbas region.
According to the report, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Commission Chairman Olegsi Danilow said on the same day that 12 to 14 elite Russian troops had left Mariupol to take part in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
▲ A residential area in the southeastern port city of Mariupol that was damaged by shelling following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 2022.4.22 TAS Yonhap News
Russia, which declared that it had succeeded in occupying the strategic point of Mariupol, presented on the same day a two-step goal of taking complete control of all parts of Donbas in the east and the south.
If Russia achieves such a plan, the Conquest of Donbas, which was promoted by the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), pro-Russian rebels in the eastern part of the country at the beginning of the war, will be conquered. In addition, an attempt to advance through the southern region to Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist region in Moldova, might follow.
Danilow said Russia has sent its own troops and 100,000 mercenaries from Syria and Libya to the battlefield in Ukraine and is increasing its deployment day by day.
▲ Smoke rises from the Azoustal (Azovstal) steelworks in Mariupol, a southeastern port city that has been bombarded following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 2022.4.22 TAS Yonhap News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Moscow on the 26th to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, the UN and the Kremlin reported.
Secretary-General Guterres is scheduled to hold a working-level meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the 26th, have a luncheon, and meet with President Putin. However, the details of the meeting were not disclosed.
UN Deputy Spokesperson Eri Kaneko said: “The Secretary-General would like to have a conversation regarding what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently. .
▲ Cyclists pass by an apartment building in Mariupol, a port city in the southeastern part of the country that was damaged by shelling following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 2022.4.22 TAS Yonhap News
This is Putin’s first contact with Guterres since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Putin has reportedly stopped answering calls from Guterres following Guterres’ remarks that a Russian invasion violated the UN Charter.
Guterres’ visit to Russia appears to be the result of the Kremlin’s acceptance of the meeting he proposed in a letter he sent to President Putin through the Russian mission to the United Nations on the 19th. At that time, Secretary-General Guterres also sent a letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggesting that they meet in Kiev (Kyiv), and will meet with President Zelensky on the 28th.
Reporter Lee Jung-soo
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