Thousands of civilians face starving to death in captured Mariupol after Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to seal shut the Azovstal steelworks.
The complex was the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in the port city but Putin has ordered his forces to completely block it off, ‘so even a fly cannot escape’.
Soldiers and civilians trapped inside have no food or water and Ukraine’s foreign ministry is desperately appealing for an evacuation route to get them to safety.
They said in a statement: ‘Hundreds of civilians, children, injured Ukrainian defenders are trapped in plant’s shelters. They have almost no food, water, essential medicine.
‘An urgent humanitarian corridor is needed from the Azovstal plant with guarantees people will be safe.’
The city’s capture has both strategic and symbolic importance, boosting Putin’s hopes to demonstrate major success by Russia’s Victory Day on May 9, with operations set to ramp up to coincide with the celebrations, the British MoD said today.
Putin gave the Avozstal order to Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, who had previously told his boss more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters were still holed up in the vast plant, which has a sprawling labyrinth of tunnels underneath it.
‘I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary,’ Putin told Shoigu in a televised meeting at the Kremlin. ‘I order you to cancel it.’
After Shoigu told him Moscow controlled the city – apart from the Azovstal steel plant – Putin hailed the ‘successful liberation’ of Mariupol.
He said his decision not to storm the steelworks was motivated by the desire to safeguard the lives of Russian soldiers.
‘There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities,’ he said. ‘Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot not pass through.’ Shoigu confirmed the plant was ‘securely blocked.’
Putin also called on the remaining Ukrainian fighters in Azovstal who had not yet surrendered to lay down their arms, saying Russia would treat them with respect and would provide medical assistance to those injured.
Leaving the plant in Ukrainian hands, however, robs the Russians of the ability to declare complete victory in Mariupol.
The scale of suffering there has made it a worldwide focal point, and its definitive fall would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, and free up Russian troops to move elsewhere in the Donbas.
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Source: Daily Mail
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