The evacuation of residents of Mariupol, a strategic port in southeastern Ukraine surrounded by Russian forces and their allies, has been postponed due to multiple Russian violations of the ceasefire.
The evacuation of civilians, which was to begin at the end of the morning, “is postponed for security reasons”, because the Russian forces “continue to bombard Mariupol and its surroundings”, the municipality declared on Telegram.
The latter called on the civilians who had gathered at the exit points of the city to “return to the shelters”.
“Negotiations are underway with Russia to establish a (ceasefire) and ensure the establishment of a humanitarian corridor,” she added.
The Russian army resumed the “offensive”
But in the afternoon, the Russian army resumed “the offensive” after the postponement of the evacuation of civilians from two besieged cities in the south-east of Ukraine, including Mariupol.
“Due to the reluctance of the Ukrainian side to influence the nationalists or to extend the ‘ceasefire’, offensive operations have resumed since 6 p.m. Moscow time,” or 3 p.m. GMT, the carrier said. speech of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov in a video message.
The scenes unfolding in Mariupol and other cities are heartbreaking
The ICRC described the situation in Mariupol as “heartbreaking”. “We understand that safe passage operations from Mariupol and Volnovakha will not start today. We continue to engage with the parties regarding the safe passage of civilians from the various towns affected by the conflict,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
“Last night, the shelling intensified and got closer,” said a member of the NGO Médecins sans frontières (MSF) still on the spot, adding that the inhabitants lacked everything: water – to the point of having to collect and melt snow to have some -, electricity and food, the bombardments having destroyed many shops.
The siege of Mariupol comes as Russian forces close in on the capital Kiev, encountering stubborn resistance and sometimes bombarding apartment buildings, including in Cherniguiv, 150 km north of the capital, where dozens of civilians were killed in recent days.
“Bodies everywhere”
An AFP team which went there on Saturday saw scenes of devastation in residential areas – while Moscow says it is not targeting them – in this city of 300,000 inhabitants which was emptying of its inhabitants, raising fears a similar fate for Kiev once Russian missile batteries and artillery were at the gates of the capital.
“There were bodies all over the ground. They were queuing for the pharmacy there, here, and they all died”, testifies Sergei, a survivor still completely disoriented by the continuous howl of the sirens, warning of an imminent strike.
“Human Shields”
On Saturday morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the entry into force of a ceasefire at 7 a.m. GMT to allow civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha, a locality 60 km to the north, to leave.
For its part, Moscow claimed to have respected the ceasefire and accused Ukrainian “nationalists” of preventing civilians from leaving encircled towns, such as Mariupol, and of taking advantage of the truce to consolidate their defences.
“In Volnovakha and Mariupol, humanitarian corridors were opened daily, but the (Ukrainians) categorically prevented any attempt by civilians to leave in the direction of Russian territory”, assured Russian General Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the Center for control of national defense.
He also accused Ukrainian forces of using civilians and foreign nationals still in several towns as “human shields”.
In 2014, Mariupol, a city of some 450,000 inhabitants located on the Sea of Azov, had resisted the assaults of pro-Russian forces from Donetsk in particular.