Zelenskyy reacts to Shoigu’s claims about “captured Mariupol”
Alyona Mazurenko — Thursday, 21 April 2022, 17:44
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the claim made by the Russian Minister of Defence that Mariupol has allegedly been captured by Russian troops. The President said that he was not aware of what the Russian official said, but stressed that Ukrainian defenders were still blockaded in the Azovstal plant and were continuing to fight off Russian offensives.
Source: Zelenskyy, during the media briefing following the visit by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Denmark
Quote: "I am not aware of what the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation told Russians. I know that they captured most of Mariupol a long time ago. You and I know that very well. A part of the city is still ours, where our military personnel [are holding out], and they are remaining there for now...
The situation is extremely difficult and bad. It has hardly changed since yesterday.
Several thousand people are blocked, including our military personnel and civilians alongside them. Those are mostly women and children, and there are also some 120,000 civilians, according to our estimates, blocked in Mariupol overall."
Details: Zelenskyy noted that the Ukrainian side was constantly working on organising humanitarian corridors, but the Russians were obstructing the process.
According to the President, there was an offer of an exchange, at least of the wounded for the wounded. He added that there were some 400 wounded Ukrainian military personnel inside Azovstal.
Zelenskyy said that Russia has received these messages, and that the Ukrainian defenders, including the Azov Regiment, were also aware of them.
The President added that the Ukrainian authorities were in constant contact with the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol.
Background: the Russian Minister of Defence, Sergei Shoigu, reported to President Putin about having "liberated Mariupol", but then added that "over two thousand" Ukrainian defenders still remained in the city.
Even though most of the city has been occupied by Russian troops, the remaining Ukrainian forces continue to resist their advances and report on Russian personnel that have been killed and equipment destroyed.
Specifically, the Azov Regiment reported that within the past two days it destroyed three tanks and three armoured vehicles of different types.
- Mariupol has been under siege since 1 March.
- On 12 April, some of the Ukrainian marines surrounded at the Illich plant broke through to the Azovstal plant to join the Azov Regiment there. Others were captured by the Russians.
- The Russian troops have been hitting Azovstal with heavy aerial bombs. On 19 April, the Deputy Commander of Azov, Svyatoslav Palamar (Kalyna), reported that Azovstal was almost completely destroyed and that the Ukrainian defenders were pulling people out from under the rubble.
- The Commander of the Ukrainian 36th Independent Marine Brigade, Serhii Volynskyy (Volyna), appealed to foreign states to conduct an evacuation of the remaining Ukrainian military personnel and civilians from the Azovstal plant to a safe place, to save them from being slaughtered by the Russians.
- On 20 April, it was reported that the marines and Azov rescued 500 Ukrainian military personnel from the Mariupol sea port.
- On 19 April, the Russian Ministry of Defence made an offer for the third time to the Ukrainian forces remaining in Azovstal to lay down their arms and surrender.
