Russian leader says those remaining at a steel plant should be offered to surrender in exchange for their lives while ongoing blockade continues
Analysis: Why Russia wants to close off Mariupol steel plant
Russian President Vladimir Putin has on Thursday scrapped plans to storm the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
Instead, he told his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that the plant — a sprawling complex which is among the last significant holdouts for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol — should be sealed and those inside should once again be offered the chance to surrender in exchange for their lives and a “dignified treatment.”
A retired military official told CNN on Thursday the decision by Putin “militarily … makes sense.”
Speaking to CNN, retired Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis said:
“There’s no point in just ratcheting out and going in for each individual person in that very labyrinth complex … There’s no reason to do that.
All they have to do is just keep that last piece cordoned off and virtually the city is already theirs.”
The plant is currently sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians. After numerous failed attempts to establish safe corridors, four evacuation buses managed to leave Mariupol on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
“Even though the Russians don’t go after them [the Ukrainian troops inside the plant], because they have them surrounded, they can’t get even food or water, much less ammunition,” Davis added.
“The risk to those soldiers is that they would slowly die if they don’t get some help. I think in probably the coming hours or days you’re going to hear that those troops are finally negotiated out.”
Putin declared on Thursday that Mariupol had been “liberated,” but Shoigu said Russian forces would need three to four days to take over the Azovstal plant. Ukrainian officials have denied that the southeastern city has fallen to Russia.
Situation in Kharkiv “tense” following “massive shelling”
From CNN’s Julia Presniakova
Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv was under heavy shelling overnight, its mayor said on Thursday.
“The situation is stressful, because overnight there was very massive shelling,” said Ihor Terekhov. “Two markets have been destroyed, firefighters are extinguishing fires there now. There was a direct hit in another residential building.”
Terekhov said that those left homeless by Russian bombardment have been moved to kindergartens, schools and boarding schools, adding that the situation was “tense but under control.”
There are no evacuation planned, he said.
According to Terekhov, around a million people remain in Kharkiv today. He said that about 30% of the pre-war population had left, primarily elderly people and women with children.
I am talking to people, they are not going to leave the city. And we do not consider it necessary to leave it today.”
Pushed back from Kyiv, what’s Russia’s military strategy now?
Analysis by Tim Lister, CNN
Phase two of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — an offensive in the eastern Donbas region — is underway. The question is whether it will be any more successful and competent than phase one, and whether Ukraine will have enough troops and weapons to impede or even block it.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that the operation in the Donbas is “a very important moment of this entire special operation.”
The Russian goal is clear and publicly stated: to secure all of Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk — parts of which Russian-backed separatists have controlled since 2014. A second aim is to crush the remaining resistance in the port city of Mariupol to consolidate a land bridge linking the Russian region of Rostov with Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine eight years ago.
To those ends, Russian forces that were deployed to the north and east of Kyiv have been redeployed and in some cases reconstituted after suffering heavy losses.
Read the full analysis:
War in Ukraine “can end in direct talks” between Putin and Zelensky, Ukrainian official says
From CNN’s Olga Voitovych and Nathan Hodge
A top Ukrainian official said Thursday that the war in Ukraine “can end in direct talks” between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine, said that while talks were possible, he was waiting to assess how Russia’s military offensive in the east of the country progresses in the coming days
This is what the team of lawyers, consultants and the negotiating group from the Ukrainian side are working on today,” he said. “Accordingly, we hope that the positions of President Volodymyr Zelensky will be extremely strong in these talks.”
Russia has shifted forces to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in what both Kyiv and Moscow have described as a major battle for control of eastern Ukraine.
Podolyak added:
They have enough resources, enough missiles, they unfortunately continue to bomb our cities. They still have manpower and equipment that they do not mind having destroyed in our fields. Therefore let’s wait for a while, and then we will be able to judge the positions of the parties, first of all of the President of Ukraine, at future bilateral meetings.”
Podolyak added that he believed it would become more clear how the situation may develop in the next week or week and a half.
What we know about the situation in Mariupol
Putin has declared that Russian forces have “liberated” Mariupol, but the situation in the besieged port city remains confusing as Ukrainian officials have denied that the city has fallen to Russia.
As the barrage of Mariupol continues, the Azovstal steel plant has become one of the last significant holdouts of Ukrainian forces.
The sprawling industrial complex is sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians.
Evacuations: After numerous failed attempts to establish safe corridors, four evacuation buses managed to leave Mariupol on Wednesday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Thursday.
“They spent the night in Berdiansk and are now heading to Vasylivka,” Vereshchuk said in a statement on Telegram.
However, officials say tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in Mariupol.
The co-commander of one of the Ukrainian units encircled in the port said the city remains under heavy bombardment.
Maksym Zhorin, co-commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, said in televised remarks that Russian forces “have not stopped shelling areas of Mariupol” amid negotiations on so-called “green corridors” for evacuation from the city, limiting the number of people who can be evacuated.
Call for weapons for Ukraine: The vast majority of the southern city has been either destroyed or badly damaged. Photos and drone footage show there is hardly a street left untouched by the war, while the relentless bombing has made it uninhabitable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the country’s forces don’t have enough “serious and heavy” weapons to defeat the Russian army in Mariupol.
He outlined two potential ways to end the standoff in the city: “First, it involves serious and heavy weapons […] at the moment we don’t have enough of these weapons to free Mariupol. The second path is diplomatic. So far Russia hasn’t agreed to this.”
He added:
“We don’t know when we can unblock Mariupol. And I say this openly, that all the boys in Mariupol want our victory, they want a free city, none of them are going to surrender to the enemy. This is their internal feeling, this is what they are,” he added, speaking alongside European Council President Charles Michel in Kyiv.”
Zelensky also said that the fate of the “few thousand” Ukrainian civilians who fled the besieged city of Mariupol through evacuation corridors to territories under Russian occupation is not currently known.
Two top Ukrainian officials said they are ready to head to Mariupol to negotiate the evacuation of soldiers and civilians, according to a captain with Ukraine’s Azov Regiment.
Putin orders blockade of Azovstal “so a fly cannot get through”
From CNN’s Radina Gigova and Nathan Hodge
Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the effort by Russian forces to capture Mariupol a “success,” but ordered Russian forces to halt outside the city’s besieged Azovstal steel factory and blockade it “so that a fly can’t get through.”
In a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin said: “Completing the military task of liberating Mariupol is a great achievement, I congratulate you.”
Ukrainian forces still hold the Azovstal plant in the southeastern port city and Shoigu told Putin that Russian forces would need three or four days to take over the factory.
Putin then said the Russian forces “must think … about preserving the life and health of our soldiers and officers,” adding:
There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area so a fly cannot get through.”
“Yes sir,” Shoigu replied.
Putin said that Russia would offer the Ukrainian defenders still in the plant to lay down arms.
“The Russian side guarantees their lives and decent treatment in accordance with the relevant international legal acts,” he said. “All those who are injured will receive qualified medical assistance.”
Ukrainian commanders on the ground have said Russian forces have not honored agreements to open humanitarian corridors or enforce ceasefires and have continued to bombard the city.
The port city has been nearly completely destroyed by weeks of Russian bombardment, and tens of thousands of civilians still await evacuation, according to Ukrainian officials.
In a statement on Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged the Russian side to open an evacuation corridor from Azovstal. “There are about 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded servicemen there now,” she said.
“They all need to be evacuated out of Azovstal today! I call on world leaders and the international community to focus their efforts on Azovstal now. It is a key point and a key moment for the humanitarian efforts now!”
It’s midday in Kyiv. Here’s what you need to know
Efforts to evacuate Mariupol continue, but the besieged southeastern port city remains under Russian bombardment, according to the Ukrainians.
Here are the latest developments on Russia’s war in Ukraine:
- Azovstal steel plant: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that there is no need to storm the industrial area around the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and that those who choose to surrender should be treated in accordance with international conventions. Earlier Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin Russian forces would need three to four days to take over the plant.
- Mariupol: Four evacuation buses managed to leave the besieged city of Mariupol on Wednesday through an evacuation corridor, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Thursday. However, the co-commander of one of the Ukrainian units encircled in the port said Thursday that Russian forces continued their bombardment of the city amid negotiations to evacuate civilians.
- Eastern offensive: Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, told CNN on Wednesday that 80% of Luhansk’s territory is under Russian control amid a major battle for the control of the Donbas region.
- Heavy weapons shortage: The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces don’t have enough “serious and heavy” weapons to defeat the Russian army in Mariupol.
- Russians take central Rubizhne: Videos on social media and verified by CNN show Russian forces in Ukraine’s Luhansk region have taken central Rubizhne and the nearby village of Kreminna. The videos come after the regional military administrator said 80% of the Luhansk region is under Russian control.
- Air force extra parts: The Ukrainian Air Force has added about 20 operational aircraft to its fleet because of an influx of spare parts, a senior US defense official said. Without specifying which country provided the parts, the official said the US and other countries worked “to get them the parts they need to get them in the air.”
- More US help on way for Ukraine: The US will announce a new round of security assistance to Ukraine “in very short order,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. CNN previously reported the US is prepping another $800 million military assistance package.
- Russia tests intercontinental ballistic missile: The Russian defense ministry said it had conducted a test launch of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile was fired from the Arkhangelsk region of northern Russia toward the Kura test site in Russia’s far east. The US was notified ahead of the missile test and tracked it closely. “Such testing is routine,” said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby.
- G20 walkout: Finance ministers from multiple nations walked out of a closed-door G20 session in Washington, DC, when the Russian delegate began his prepared remarks, a person familiar with the session said. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen took part in the walkout, as did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with other Western and European officials.
Putin scraps plan to storm steel plant in Mariupol
From CNN’s Radina Gigova
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that there is no need to storm the industrial area around the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and those who choose to surrender should be treated in accordance with international conventions.
“I believe the proposed storming of the industrial zone is no longer necessary,” Putin told Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting at the Kremlin, according to state media.
The industrial area, Putin told Shoigu, should be sealed and those remaining at the plant should once again be offered to surrender in exchange for their lives and a “dignified treatment.”
Putin also congratulated Shougu and the Russian military on taking control of the city of Mariupol.
“Completing the military task of liberating Mariupol is a great achievement, I congratulate you,” Putin said.
Ukrainian officials have denied that Mariupol has fallen to Russia.
Russian defense minister tells Putin the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol could be taken in 3-4 days
From CNN’s Radina Gigova
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Russian forces would need 3-4 days to take over the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
At a meeting with Putin at the Kremlin, per Russian media, Shoigu said “the remaining nationalists and foreign battalions are securely blocked” at the Azovstal plant.
Some context: As the barrage of Mariupol continues, the plant is among the last significant holdouts of Ukrainian forces in the city and is sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians.
Two top Ukrainian officials said they are ready to head to Mariupol to negotiate the evacuation of soldiers and civilians, according to a captain with Ukraine’s Azov Regiment.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-04-21-22/h_a3459d2dba74c3136bfa5922304dcc5a
