Filenews 6 March 2022
The city council of Mariupol in Ukraine announced that it will start today at 12:00 (local time and Cyprus time) a new operation to evacuate civilians from the city.
For this purpose there will be a temporary ceasefire from 10:00 to 21:00, the same source added. Yesterday's ceasefire was violated, the attempt to escape civilians failed
It is recalled that yesterday an attempt had been made to set up a humanitarian corridor and a ceasefire was announced in order to evacuate the civilians, but this was not achieved as the bombings continued. "The ongoing bombing makes it impossible to open humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians and the delivery of medicines and food," a statement from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
Specifically, the deputy mayor of Mariupol said that people continue to be bombed as they try to leave the city. Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told BBC News: "At first our people said that the bombings stopped for a while, but then they continue and continue to use hard artillery and rockets to bomb Mariupol. People are very afraid."
Orlov said authorities in the city received information that fighting is being fought "on the road to Zaporizia", making it dangerous. "We understand that [the ceasefire] was not real on the Russian side and they continue to destroy Mariupol. We decided to move our citizens back because it's not safe to be on the streets." He said the bombing of the city and the fighting on the road to Zaporizia make it "impossible to evacuate the people".
The Ukrainian government had initially said that the plan was to evacuate about 200,000 people from Mariupol and 15,000 from Volnovaca, and the Red Cross was the guarantor of the ceasefire which would last until 16:00 Cyprus time.
The Russian Defence Ministry announced that no one used two humanitarian corridors that were created near the cities of Mariupol and Volnovaca in Ukraine today and accused Ukrainian "nationalists" of preventing civilians from leaving, the Reuters agency reported, citing the Russian news agency RIA.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that Russian claims that Ukraine was violating the removals of civilians "are false and constitute disinformation to justify the criminal actions of the Russian army."
In statements that are in stark contrast to statements by Ukrainian officials, the ministry said Russian forces were fired upon after the creation of humanitarian corridors, during a partial ceasefire. "Whether the humanitarian corridors are operational or not in the coming days, the parties must continue to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in accordance with international humanitarian law, both for those who choose to leave and for those who remain," he said.
"So-called humanitarian corridors or other measures aimed at providing relief to people affected by the conflict must be well planned and implemented in accordance with the agreement of the parties involved," he also noted.
The occupation of Mariupol, a city of about 450,000 inhabitants located in the Sea of Azov, will be a turning point in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It will allow a cross-crossing between Russian forces coming from the annexed Crimea, which have already occupied the main ports of Berdyansk and Kherson, and the separatists and Russian troops in Donbass.
Why Russia wants control of Mariupol
Mariupol faced days of "merciless attacks," with residents left without electricity and water after Russian missiles hit critical infrastructure. It is understandable that the city remains in the hands of Ukraine, but the British secret services say it is "very likely" that Mariupol is surrounded by Russian forces.
As Sky News reports, if the city's main port fell, it would allow Moscow to create a land corridor between Crimea and the rebel-led Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, while the two regions of eastern Ukraine were recognized as independent by Vladimir Putin before the invasion last month. Volnovaka, to the north of Mariupol, is located between the port and the Donetsk region. The smaller city has also faced major Russian attacks since February 24.
