The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr ZelenskyHe said Monday he believes there are “tens of thousands” dead in the beleaguered southern port of Mariupol, in a statement to the South Korean parliament calling for military help.
In a video appearance, Zelensky claimed that Russia “completely destroyed” the city.
“The Russians totally destroyed Mariupol and burned it to ashes. At least tens of thousands of Mariupol’s citizens must have died,” the Ukrainian leader told South Korean lawmakers.
Zelensky stated that for Russia, Mariupol is one more example.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have seen devastation of this magnitude many times in the 20th century,” he said in a plea for military assistance, from planes to tanks to “save the lives of ordinary people.”
This Monday the 36th Marine Brigade stated that prepares for the “final battle” in Mariupolafter a siege of more than 40 days, after running out of ammunition, lamenting the lack of help “from the command of the army and from the president” Zelenski.
South Korea has delivered nearly 1 billion won (about $800,000) worth of non-lethal weapons, such as helmets and medical equipment, to Ukraine, South Korea’s defense ministry told AFP on Monday.
But he recently denied a request for the delivery of anti-aircraft weapons, saying such equipment would impact South Korea’s “military capability.”
Due to its security situation, the ability to South Korea to deliver “lethal weapons systems to Ukraine restricted,” a Defense Ministry official told AFP.
The Korean War ended with a ceasefire, but without a peace treaty, and technically the peninsula is still at war.
Seoul is a military ally of the United States and about 28,500 troops are stationed there to help the country defend itself from its neighbor to the north, which routinely conducts nuclear exercises, and which invaded the country in 1950.
