with entry Russia’s military operation in Ukraine on its 73rd dayToday, Saturday, Russian forces continue to destroy Ukrainian military sites, while the West is preparing to adopt a new package of sanctions against Moscow in light of the escalation of its military and moral support for Kiev, while the evacuations from Mariupol continue.
In the latest developments, a leader in the forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic announced that the first in attendance between representatives of the Russian army and the besieged Ukrainian forces inside the Azovstal factory in the city of Mariupol since the start of the conflict.
The commander of the “Vostok” battalion of the forces of the Donetsk Republic, Alexander Khodakovsky, said on his channel in the “Telegram” application today, Saturday: “A group of troops carrying a white flag went out to a road leading from the bridge, where civilians who were evacuated to the Azovstal complex were received.” .
Khodakovsky indicated that a group of Russian military personnel went as negotiators to meet with them, stressing that this is “the first personal contact since the start of the Mariupol siege” between the two parties to the conflict.
Before that, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the destruction of American and European weapons and equipment by bombing in the Kharkiv region, while 18 Ukrainian military sites were targeted last night, including 3 ammunition depots near Odessa.
The British Ministry of Defense stated that the conflict in Ukraine is taking a heavy toll on some of Russia’s most advanced and capable units. It added that at least one T-90M tank, the most advanced in Russia, was destroyed during the fighting.
It said that about 100 T-90M tanks are in service among the best-equipped Russian units, including those fighting in Ukraine.
Forces loyal to the Russian army continue their operations in the vicinity of the Azovstal factory, where the Ukrainian forces are holed up in the city of Mariupol, where they used tanks and heavy artillery to penetrate the defenses of the Ukrainian forces inside the besieged factory.
This comes as the Russian Defense Ministry announced that “Nazi formations” and Kyiv forces are preparing provocations in an area where chemical industries are concentrated in Donbass, southeast of Ukraine, “at the direction of their sponsors in the United States and Britain.”
Head of the Russian National Defense Control Center Lieutenant-General Mikhail Mezintsev said: At the sites of the “Azot” company in Severodonetsk, Lugansk People’s Republic, they have deployed heavy weapons, where they are holding more than a thousand factory workers and civilians as human shields, and at the same time the Nazis are systematically bombing the towns of Pervomaisk Stakhanov and Kalinov, to provoke the Russian forces to respond, with the aim of accusing the Russian army of killing civilians and causing a disaster, as he put it.
On the ground, the President of the Russian Republic of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov declared frustration Kyiv forces attempt to launch a counterattack in the village of Vojvodovka in LuganskThe attackers inflicted heavy human and material losses and destroyed their command center.
The spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, announced that Russian defenses had shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 plane and intercepted two Ukrainian “Smerch” missiles targeting the city of Izum in the Kharkov province.
In humanitarian terms, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the evacuation of hundreds of civilians from the city of Mariupol in the Donbass region and its surrounding areas, during a humanitarian operation carried out in coordination between Russia and Ukraine.
Guterres said on his Twitter account yesterday, Friday, that About 500 people were evacuated in two convoys from Mariupolespecially the Azovstal steel plant, which is still the last stronghold of the Ukrainian government forces there, and the areas surrounding this city, within the framework of a successful operation carried out by the United Nations in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“I hope that continued coordination between Moscow and Kiev will lead to more humanitarian pauses in order to provide a safe passage for civilians,” he added.
Since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Mariupol, the largest city overlooking the Sea of Azov, has witnessed fierce battles, during which the forces of Russia and the Donetsk People’s Republic managed to control the entire city, except for the Azovstal plant.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of violating a ceasefire today aimed at evacuating dozens of civilians trapped underground in the bombed steel plant, after fighting thwarted efforts to rescue them the day before.