According to Ukrainian sources, Russia has once more shelled the industrial zone, regardless of the struggle for a negotiated solution for the fighters in the Azov steelworks in Mariupol.
There are attacks from the air and on the ground, said Mariupol city council deputy Petro Andryushchenko on Saturday in the Telegram news channel. “The cruelty of the enemy is increasing,” he said. Not only would the defenders of Mariupol themselves be attacked, but their families as well.
This is how the Russian “occupiers” found out the personal contacts – such as telephone numbers and profiles – of the spouses of the fighters who were staying in the steelworks, Andryushchenko claimed. He also published a video on Telegram that is said to show aerial photos of the steelworks under Russian fire. Heavy explosions can also be seen on it. Where and when the recordings come from might not initially be verified by an independent party.
The Ukrainian government recently declared that it would do everything possible to get the Mariupol defenders out of the industrial zone through negotiations with Russia. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk announced on Saturday that negotiations are currently under way for 60 people, including injured fighters and medical staff. “There are a few hundred injured there, they have to be rescued first because the Russians won’t give their consent to everyone at once,” she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had called on the fighters to lay down their arms and take captives. However, the men and women who have entrenched themselves in the plant have repeatedly refused to surrender.