Russia accused the Ukrainian nationalist battalions of preventing the evacuation of the civilian population from these two cities and assured that of the 215,000 people who were going to be allowed to leave these cities “no one reached the open humanitarian corridors”.
The head of the National Center for Defense Control (NTsUO) of Russia, Mikhail Mizintsev, indicated, according to the official TASS agency, that Moscow fulfilled “all the conditions of the Ukrainian side, both in terms of hours, such as the route and security”.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the nationalists and the Ukrainian Armed Forces took advantage of the humanitarian truce to “regroup units” in defensive positions and throughout Mariupol, a strategic port city, which has almost 450,000 inhabitants, something that would also have been observed in Volnovakha. .
“Unfortunately, so far, we have reliable information that of the 200,000 declared refugees from Mariupol and 15,000 from Volnovakha, no one has reached the open humanitarian corridors,” the Russian colonel-general said.
He said Russian forces came under artillery fire at 10:08 a.m. local time from Mariupol and “continuous fire from Volnovakha from 10:11 a.m. local time until 10:21 a.m., when the ceasefire announced by Moscow was to have started at 10:00 a.m. local time. Russian (07.00 GMT).
Russia assured that in the directions of Volnovakha and Mariupol humanitarian corridors “were opened every day”, but that “national battalions categorically repress attempts by civilians to leave for Russia”.
According to the Russian version, “the situation is the same in Kharkov (east) and Sumy (northeast), as well as in other places.”
Mizintsev assured that Russian forces have allowed the evacuation of “more than 156,000 people, including 41,596 children, from dangerous areas” since the start of the military offensive in Ukraine, without specifying whether they come from the pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk or from other places.
The Ukrainian authorities also stated that Russian military operations are preventing thousands of Ukrainian civilians from leaving for safety.
“Because the Russian side does not respect the truce and continues the bombardment of both Mariupol itself and its surroundings, for security reasons, the evacuation of the population is postponed,” the City Council wrote in its Telegram account.
“We ask all the citizens of Mariupol to leave (from the assembly and collection points) and go to the shelters,” he added.
Today the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, affirmed that the Russian forces have practically eliminated Ukraine’s military infrastructure, in the ten days since the armed intervention in that country began, which he described as a “difficult decision”.
“The first thing they (the Russian military) did was destroy the entire military infrastructure. Well, not all of it, but partially, mainly warehouses with weapons, ammunition, aviation, anti-aircraft defense systems. Destroying air defense systems takes a certain amount of time: you have to find them and then hit them. Practically this work has been completed,” Putin said during a meeting with female Russian airline flight crews, broadcast on television.
Shortly after, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian troops took under control a military base of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Kherson, in southern Ukraine and near Crimea.
“The Russian military took control of the military base of the Ukrainian armed forces near the village of Radensk, Kherson region. The Ukrainian military left their positions in a hurry, leaving the base with equipment, weapons and ammunition,” the ministry said.
They said that at the base there were Ukrainian T-64 and T-80 tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and Ural vehicles. Also an ammunition depot with mines, anti-tank guided missiles, mortars and tank shells, more than 4,500 tons of ammunition in total.
The entrance The first two humanitarian corridors in Ukraine are suspended was first published in diary TODAY.
