Ukraine will withdraw from the peace talks if Russia holds a “referendum” in Kherson and that Russian troops finish off the defenders of the besieged city of Mariupol, in the southeast of the country, the Ukrainian president declared this Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“If they destroy our people in Mariupol, if a pseudo-referendum is proclaimed in new pseudo-republicsUkraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” Volodymyr Zelensky told a news conference, quoted by the Unian agency.
Furthermore, he added: “I think this is not in favor of a diplomatic settlement of the situation, it will definitely prevent ending the warit is definitely a wrong step on the part of Russia”.
He asked to meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to “end the war”. “I believe that whoever started the war will be able to put an end to it,” Zelensky exhibited during a press conference at a metro station in central kyiv.
The Russian occupiers want to hold a “referendum” on the creation of a pro-Russian “Kherson People’s Republic”initially scheduled between Sunday May 1 and Tuesday May 10, but the date was later changed and could be brought forward to next Wednesday April 27.
Evacuation plans have been suspended
The deputy mayor of the besieged city of Mariupol, Petr Andryushchenkohas assured that the plans to evacuate part of the population this past Saturday have been suspended due to the danger of new confrontations. “We were going to evacuate about 200 residents, but the Russian Army approached them and ordered them to disperse because there was going to be shelling.“, he has argued to the UNIAN agency.
Also, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Irina Verschukhad announced this very day the start of a new attempt to evacuate the civilian population through a humanitarian corridor at noonlocal time.
However, in the course of the afternoon, the pro-Russian separatist forces in Donetsk, participating in the siege, claimed that the operation had been suspended because of the “Ukrainian nationalists”according to the TASS agency.
Russian attack on the Mariupol steel mill
The The Ukrainian government has announced the start of a new Russian offensive against the Azovstal steel mill, one of the last defensive bastions of the besieged city of Mariupol, near the port of the town that is already under Russian control, according to the Kremlin.
“The enemy is trying to destroy the last resistance of the cityPresidential adviser Oleksei Arestovich reported in a video message collected by the Ukrainian agency UNN.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putinrescinded on Thursday a order to attack the steel mill to avoid a high number of losses among its troopsaccording to analysts consulted by DPA.
Thousands of dead in Mariupol
The city council of the port city has reported that, during the weeks that it has been besieged, they have died over 20,000 civilians, and they do not rule out that this figure may increase in the coming days. “Four days ago we gave an optimistic figure of 10,000 victims. With the increase in the intensity of the fighting, it must be said that, even if the blockade ended now, the figure would be around 20,000,” said the mayor, Petro Andryushchenko.
It was precisely in Mariupol where, according to several international intelligence agencies, Russia would have used chemical weapons. Besieged for weeks by the Russian army, the Ukrainian troops have managed to hold on all this time. During the last days, entrenched in an industrial complex under which there are tunnels with which they lay ambushes.
The iron defense of the city has been compared by analysts with the battle of Stalingrad, during World War II. In her, the defenders also barricaded themselves in an industrial complex and used tunnels for their defense.