“They don’t trust the Russians”
Mariupol’s police: civilians are also hiding in the steelworks
4/18/2022 4:24 am
Before the start of the Russian attack, 400,000 people lived in Mariupol. According to the port city’s police chief, the population has now shrunk to 100,000. He says some civilians are holding out at the Azovstal Steel Works, one of the last bastions of Ukrainian troops.
According to local authorities, there are numerous civilians and Ukrainian troops on the contested site of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. People were hiding there from shelling during the weeks-long siege of the city by the Russian military, Mariupol patrol chief Mikhail Vershinin told local television.
“They don’t trust the Russians. They see what’s going on in the city and that’s why they stay on the factory premises,” he said. The information could not be independently verified. Several thousand Ukrainian defenders of the city are said to have holed up in the huge steelworks, which also includes underground facilities. Large parts of Mariupol are now under the control of the Russian military.
Around 100,000 residents stayed in Mariupol, Vershinin said. Russian troops had them clear rubble for food, and had bodies removed and buried in mass graves, he claimed. Before the war, Mariupol had around 400,000 inhabitants. Thousands of civilian deaths are feared after the long siege and constant shelling.
The port city on the Azov Sea in south-eastern Ukraine is of strategic importance. It lies on the route between Russia’s annexed Crimea and pro-Russian separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine.
Negotiations could be terminated
Ukrainian troops let an ultimatum by the Russian army to surrender expire on Sunday. The strategically important port city has still “not fallen,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal. Ukraine will “fight to the end”. Russia had given the Ukrainian fighters who remained in Mariupol until Sunday noon to lay down their arms. Otherwise, Moscow threatened them with death. After the ultimatum expired, however, Ukrainian soldiers were apparently still in the Mariupol steelworks.
The devastating situation in Mariupol is further dwindling hopes of a diplomatic solution to the war. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Saturday that the killing of the last defenders of Mariupol would mean the end of the Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire negotiations. Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin had previously said the talks were at a “dead end”.