April 20, 2022
image source,Archyde.com
Mariupol is an important port city in southern Ukraine. The Russian military invasion of Ukraine destroyed the vast majority of the city’s buildings.
Russia’s military campaign to invade Ukraine has entered its 56th day. Russia continues its full-scale offensive on the eastern front in Ukraine, while fighting continues in the southern port city of Mariupol.
The following is a summary of the latest situation on April 20:
- Russia’s deadline for Mariupol’s Ukrainian troops to lay down their weapons at 11:00 GMT has passed, with no sign of surrender
- Major Serhiy Volyna, a marine commander at the Azov Steel Plant, Ukraine’s last stronghold in Mariupol, said his troops may only have a few hours left.
- In a video sent to the BBC and other media, the major said his troops would not surrender, but wanted to withdraw to a third country
- “The situation in Mariupol remains extremely serious”, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
- Ukraine has reached a preliminary agreement with Russia to establish a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians in Mariupol, but previous humanitarian corridor negotiations have been inconclusive
- Russia is trying to seize the eastern Donbas region in a new offensive, but British intelligence says Ukrainian forces have repelled several offensives
- The mayor of Mariupol wants to evacuate 6,000 people in a preliminary agreement with Russia today, but regarding 100,000 remain in the city
- The UK Ministry of Defence accuses Russia of ‘unscrupulous’ attacks on the safety of civilians in Mariupol
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now focused on wider eastern Ukraine, with both sides fighting on a 480-kilometer front
- Russia’s Defense Ministry claims night attacked 1,053 Ukrainian military installations, but BBC cannot confirm
- Ukraine claims to have launched a counterattack, taking back the town of Maryinka near Donetsk
- Fierce fighting is taking place between the two sides in the touristy city of Izyum on the northern edge of Ukraine’s Donbass.Those who managed to escape from there told the BBC that the city was on the brink of a humanitarian disaster
More coverage of the war in Ukraine from the BBC in Chinese:
Mariupol surrender deadline has passed
In the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, besieged by Russian troops, the deadline for Russian forces to demand the surrender of Ukrainian forces has passed.
Mariupol has been largely captured by Russian troops, with the exception of the Azovstal steel plant in the city center where Ukrainian troops are still resisting.
The Russians asked the Ukrainian defenders to lay down their weapons at 11:00 GMT, but there was no sign of the defenders surrendering.
In a video, Major Serhiy Volyna, a Marine commander at the Azovstal, the last stronghold in the city of Mariupol, said it was possible that they might “only” days or hours left.”
“This is the last time we will address the world. It may be the last time we will speak from now on,” Major Wallina said.
He said his troops would not surrender, but he implored the international community for support. Major Wallina added that 500 wounded soldiers and hundreds of women and children were taking shelter with them.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the hope was to evacuate civilians through a humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly. But the Kremlin has yet to hear back.
Who are the fighters left in Mariupol?
Azovstal, a huge four-square-mile factory, has become Mariupol’s last bastion of Ukrainian resistance.
The commander of the Marine Corps at the stronghold, Serhiy Volyna, posted a video message in the early hours of Wednesday morning, saying his men may only have a few hours left.
Major Wallina said his troops would not surrender, but he implored the international community to provide aid to the 500 wounded soldiers and hundreds of women and children he said were hiding with them at the steel mill.
Major Volina is the commander of the 36th Ukrainian Marine Corps.
image source,EPA
Last week, Russia said 1,026 soldiers of the force, including 162 officers, had surrendered in Mariupol.
British Aidan Aslin and Sean Pinner were members of the brigade, who had been in Mariupol for the resistance but were captured by Russian troops last week.
Another unit of the steelworks is the Azov Battalion, an armed force named following the Sea of Azov that connects Mariupol to the rest of the Black Sea.
The Azov Battalion was a militia linked to far-right nationalists that was later incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard. Their number is estimated to be around 900.
The Marines joined forces with the Azov Battalion in Mariupol last week. It is unclear how many Ukrainian troops remain in the factory.
image source,Archyde.com
“We will fight to the last bullet, but we call on the motherland to save the people here, the wounded and take away the remains,” Azov Battalion posted on Telegram on Tuesday.
Azov Steel Works Past and Present
Azovstal, a huge four-square-mile mill southeast of Mariupol, has become the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in the port city.
Built in 1933, Azov Steel was once one of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe, producing more than 4 million tons of crude steel per year, making Mariupol an outlier in the Donbass region, which has traditionally relied on coal for fueling economic development.
Mariupol has historically been closely linked to Ukraine’s military conflict: occupied by the Nazis in World War II; occupied by pro-Russian separatists in 2014.
But now, with Russian troops slowly advancing into the heart of Mariupol, the sprawling complex has become a hideout for thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, including the Azov Battalion with links to the right.
The factory consisted of massive tunnels and workshops that gave the defenders a natural advantage.
An official from the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic told Russia’s state news network over the weekend that there was “basically another city” beneath the factory.
Russia has been bombarding the steel mill with artillery and airstrikes. Moscow has issued two warnings demanding the surrender of Ukrainian troops there.
But an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was targeting defenders with bunker bombs. The massive bomb is penetrating and can pierce through thick armor to destroy underground targets.
Mariupol defenders ‘successfully held back the Russians’
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director of the Royal United Institute (RUSI), a UK defence and security think tank, said Ukrainian forces in Mariupol had managed to hold back thousands of Russian troops that would otherwise have been Will be deployed to the main battle in the Donbass.
He told the BBC: “The defenders of Mariupol held on for so long and made a major contribution to the whole resistance war, even if they ended up outnumbered.”
Chalmers added: “Russia does not have unlimited resources, and they lost a lot of equipment and personnel in their unsuccessful campaign to capture Kyiv.”
image source,EPA
The Russian Defense Ministry said it hit 1,053 Ukrainian military targets during the night.
Putin’s biggest goal, he said, remains to replace the Ukrainian government with a regime of his choice, or even better annex Ukraine entirely to Russia.
“The Battle of the Donbass is part of a sequence of attempts to do one thing at a time.”
If Russia succeeds in the Donbass offensive, he said, “it is possible, but it seems unlikely, that they will continue to attack Odessa and Kyiv south.”
“In retrospect, the Russian leadership will realize that trying to fight Ukraine on several fronts at the start of the war was a strategic mistake.”
Russian Defense Ministry: 1,053 Ukrainian military installations were hit during the night
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces struck 1,053 Ukrainian military installations during the night.
In an update on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 106 Ukrainian artillery firing positions and shot down six Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.
In addition, Russia also announced strikes once morest 73 Ukrainian military equipment, including:
- 4 command posts
- 57 Ukrainian manpower and military equipment zones
- 7 strongholds and 4 ammunition depots
- 6 tanks and 9 armored vehicles
- One Msta-B howitzer battery
Russia also claimed as many as 40 Ukrainian servicemen were killed and seven units of military equipment were destroyed in a high-precision missile strike.
The Russian military said it continued “special military operations in Ukraine”.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify Russia’s claims.
