Kremlin gives fighters an ultimatum
Zelenskyy calls situation in Mariupol “inhuman”
04/17/2022 03:29 am
A capture of Mariupol by Russian troops would mean an end to negotiations with the Kremlin, says Ukrainian President Zelensky. He describes the desperate struggles in the port city. Meanwhile, Russia is again asking the enemy troops to surrender.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the situation in the embattled Ukrainian port of Mariupol remains extremely serious. The situation is also “simply inhuman,” said Zelenskyj in his evening video speech. He accused Moscow of deliberately trying to wipe out everyone there. Zelenskyy did not provide any information on the situation of the Ukrainian armed forces in the city. According to Russian information, all remaining Ukrainian fighters have now holed up in the Azovstal steelworks.
To influence the situation in Mariupol, Zelenskyy said, there are only two ways. Either Ukraine’s partner countries immediately provided all the necessary heavy weapons, including aircraft, to ease the pressure on the city and unblock it. The second way is a negotiation path in which the partners also have to play a significant role.
According to Zelensky, the fall of the heavily contested port city of Mariupol would spell the end of talks with Russia. This would be a “dead end” for both sides, because we are not negotiating either about our territories or about our people, Zelenskyj said on Saturday. According to Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin already believes that “he will win the war.”
Difficult diplomatic solution according to Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy further said that since the blockade of Mariupol began, not a day has passed that Kyiv has not been looking for a solution – militarily or diplomatically, “whatever, to save the people.” However, finding the solution is very difficult, so far there has not been a single fully practicable option.
Meanwhile, the Russian army once again called on Ukrainian forces to surrender in the heavily contested port city of Mariupol. Taking into account the “catastrophic situation” in the Azovstal steel plant, the surrounded Ukrainian fighters and “foreign mercenaries” are being offered to cease hostilities and lay down their arms on Sunday from 6 a.m. Moscow time (5 a.m. CET), the colonel-general said in a statement Mikhail Mizintsev from the Russian Defense Ministry.
All those who laid down their arms are guaranteed their lives, it said. According to information from Moscow, the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is now almost completely under Russian control. Russian ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced on Saturday that all remaining Ukrainian fighters had meanwhile holed up in the Azovstal steelworks. There was no information from Kyiv.
On Sunday at 6 a.m. Moscow time, the statement said, the Russian units should hoist red flags and the Ukrainian side white flags over the entire area of the steelworks as a sign of compliance with the ceasefire. After confirmation of readiness on previously established communication channels, all Ukrainian units could leave the area without weapons and ammunition from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Moscow time.
At the same time, Mizintsev called on “all” military personnel of the Ukrainian armed forces to lay down their arms. The Russian Federation guarantees everyone his life and compliance with all norms of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.