Mariupol Being Closed For Entry and Exit As Fighting Rages – Russian troops have surrounded Ukrainian troops in Mariupol as the city seems destined to fall after nearly eight weeks of intense fighting.
Ukrainian forces have been reduced to a pocket around the sprawling Azovstal steelworks, which covers about 4.25 square miles in the port on the Sea of Azov. Mariupol, which is about the size of Miami, was the largest city held by Ukraine in the separatist-held area of the Donbas at the outset of the war.
The city had a previous population of over 400,000 people, and Ukrainian officials have said that more than 20,000 people have been killed in the fighting and shelling. About 100,000 civilians remain.
It would be the first major Ukrainian city to fall to the Russian invasion since it began on February 24. The estimated 2,500 Ukrainian troops remaining in Mariupol are continuing the fight, defying a “surrender or die” Russian ultimatum which expired on Sunday morning.
The Russians said that those surrendering would be “guaranteed to keep their lives”, but as with previous ultimatums, the Ukrainian troops have ignored it.
If the city were to fall, the Russians would have a land bridge from the annexed region of Crimea, which they took in 2014, and the separatist-held areas of the Donestk and Luhansk.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal remained defiant while appearing on ABC News. “The city still has not fallen,” he said. “There is still our military forces, our soldiers, so they will fight until the end.
“We will fight absolutely to the end, to the win, in this war,” adding that while negotiations are still possible, “but we do not have the intention to surrender.”
Mariupol Being Razed To The Ground And Is Closed To Entry/Exit
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the Russians are intent on razing the city to the ground. The Russians are also closing the city to all entry and exits and will stop anyone from traveling.
“The entire urban area of Mariupol has been completely cleared and remnants of the Ukrainian [armed] group are currently completely blockaded … Their only chance to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender,” said Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry’s chief spokesman.
The Azov Regiment, which is holding the steelworks in the city posted on their Telegram app channel that they are surrounded but will continue the fight. They do have hardened defensive positions, including bunkers that were designed to withstand nuclear strikes as well as tunnels that allow troops to move to and from several areas, according to Justin Crump, a military expert from the security consultancy Sybilline in a statement to the BBC.
Meanwhile, the Russians are closing the city for all entry and exit passages without securing a pass from Russian troops.
Petro Andriushchenko, the Mariupol mayoral adviser said Russian forces announced the city would be “closed for entry/exit for everyone from Monday, but there will also be a ban on moving around the districts for a week.”
“Hundreds of citizens have to stand in a line to get a pass, without which it will be impossible not only to move between the districts of the city but also to go out on the streets starting next week,” he said.
Andriushchenko added, that men in the city will be subject to “filtration”, relocated for screening by Russian forces.
Ukrainian and US officials have accused Russian troops of the filtration of civilians in the city, biometrically screening them, confiscating their phones, and deporting many of the people against their will to Russia. The purpose behind this, officials say, is to cover up the potential war crimes committed by Russian troops inside the city.
Western City Of Lviv Hit With Deadly Airstrikes
Despite the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv and redeploying them to fight in the eastern areas of the country, Russia conducted deadly missile attacks in the western city of Lviv, which killed six people, and wounded eight, including one child according to authorities.
“According to information from the Air Operations Command West, four missile strikes on Lviv were carried out today,” Maksym Kozytskyy, the head of the Ukrainian regional military administration said on Telegram.
“Three were directed at military infrastructure. One hit a tire repair shop.”
Steve Balestrieri is a 1945 National Security Columnist. He has served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer before injuries forced his early separation. In addition to writing for 19fortyfive.com, he has covered the NFL for PatsFans.com for more than 10 years and his work was regularly featured in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and Grafton News newspapers in Massachusetts.
