Citizens take to the streets of Mariupol in search of something to eat. /
The authorities surrender to the evidence that the port city, of great strategic, symbolic and economic value for Russia, is about to be invaded
Mariupol ‘no longer exists’. This was certified on Monday by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitri Kuleba, in what appear to be the posthumous hours of the city most affected by the war in the former Soviet republic. The Ministry of Defense itself admitted that “the whole” of the town has not yet been taken by the Russians, but hardly any resistance is concentrated in a relatively small number of soldiers and volunteers cornered around an old factory, an episode reminiscent of the defense of the Shiang Warehouse during the Battle of Shanghai in 1937.
For the first time in this siege, the kyiv government added a thick veil of pessimism to the epic of resistance. He acknowledges that the “military situation” is “tough” and “disheartening.” “What remains of the Ukrainian Army and a large group of civilians is basically surrounded by Russian forces. They continue their fight, but it seems from the way the Russian Army is behaving in Mariupol that they have decided to raze the city to the ground at any cost,” Kuleba said.
Local authorities called on the more than 100,000 citizens trapped in the city to “escape as soon as they can.” In the last 48 hours it has been impossible to set up humanitarian corridors and the regional leaders themselves admit that Mariúpol is a trap for those who flee after the blowing up of bridges and roads. Residents are not just trying to get away from bombs and bullets. There is no food or drinking water, and on any avenue you can find corpses lying on the ground. “It is inhumane”, President Volodímir Zelenski sentenced yesterday. At least 20,000 civilians would be killed according to kyiv. The port enclave has been under attack for fifty days.
The commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, who recently made a desperate distress call in the event that he lacked ammunition to maintain the defense, has once again reflected in a statement on social networks the desperate situation of his unit . A decimated brigade, since a thousand fighters surrendered at the end of last week (according to the Kremlin) or overcame the Russian encirclement to join the Azov Battalion (according to the Ukrainian high command).
“The defenders of the city have heroically held the line despite the superiority of the enemy forces”, but this effort “has a superhuman cost and great losses. We need help,” implores Commander Sergei Volyn, who reports that women and children remain permanently sheltered in military bunkers where there is no heating, water and food reserves. According to Volyn, many of them are relatives of Ukrainian soldiers whom the invaders seek for revenge. “Our wounded die daily in excruciating agony, because medicines, disinfectants and pain relief options have long since ended.”
The possibility that the long siege will not end in a new bloodbath is less every day. After ignoring the surrender ultimatum launched by Russia, the kyiv Executive only sees two options: a negotiation in extremis or the reception of military equipment that allows the defenders to rearm. But the two now have very few options. They play against the clock. Mariupol authorities believe that the full invasion of the city will take place sometime this week.
And the government does not believe that negotiations with the Kremlin, which have been stalled since the Bucha massacre, will resume within that period. “There have been no contacts with Russian diplomats at the Foreign Ministry level,” Kuleba confirmed yesterday. Both the head of the Kiev diplomacy and Zelensky trust in an upcoming visit by the US president – Biden declared his predisposition this weekend – not only because of what it would mean as international support but also to try to speed up the shipment of weapons, which in general are not seems to satisfy the Ukrainian leader. Once again, this Monday he complained that some Western countries should get weapons to him more quickly, despite the fact that four planes loaded with US material landed in Ukraine. In the “next few days”, the Pentagon will also train the Ukrainian military in the handling of M777 Howitzer guns, the latest generation artillery pieces used by NATO.
However, it seems very likely that this equipment will not arrive in time to save Mariupol, which would fall two months after its siege began, in the most brutal siege of this entire war. Not surprisingly, the importance of this enclave is fundamental to Russian interests. In the economic field, it would become the main center of heavy industry and shipbuilding in the country, as well as the largest commercial port in the Sea of Azov. from here Ukraine shipped grain and heavy machinery to Europe and the Middle East. But, in addition, the city has another symbolic meaning for the Russians. It resisted its Army at the start of the war in Donbas in 2014 and is the headquarters of the Azov Battalion, the “Nazis” that Russia wants to eliminate.
It is “isolated” but remains “disputed”, says the Pentagon
Besieged since March 17 by land and air, in Mariupol there is almost no stone left on stone. The Russians are already inside and everyone gives it up for lost, except the Pentagon. According to his spokesman, John Kirby, the city is “isolated” but remains “contested.” It will not be enough for the Russians to finish off the last remnant of the Ukrainian Army troops, cornered in a factory, who have refused to surrender despite fierce threats to disembowel them alive if they do not surrender when captured. They will have to dispute Mariúpol house by house. Russian battalions move in and out of the city after each assault. “Our assessment is that it remains disputed,” the Pentagon spokesman solemnly insisted to a group of journalists, reports Mercedes Gallego.
Even President Volodymyr Zelensky has already written it off, but over the past 55 days of war, Washington has learned not to underestimate the courage of the Ukrainians. In that time they have counted 660 missiles and 76 “tactical battalion groups”, to which Moscow has just added another eleven. The worst siege is now in Kharkov, but the population that continues to pay attention to Mariúpol by concentrating the bulk of the fury of the Russian artillery and bombing is Pospasna, near Donetsk.
All Russian troops are now concentrated in the east and south of Ukraine, after a tactical withdrawal following a change in strategy: Russia now intends to consolidate its dominance in the Donbas region and unite it with the Crimean peninsula. “We don’t know if they have decided to take it in parallel with the siege of the other areas or in parts,” Kirby said. “We can’t read Russian minds.” What they do know is how to count hits. Over 200 targets in 24 hours, in line with the intensity they’ve seen since the invasion began. There is no respite for Mariúpol, whose fall most sources believe is imminent. “If it falls, it will release a dozen groups of tactical battalions to fight in other parts of the south and east of the country,” estimates the Pentagon, not without first warning that “if it falls” is in capital letters and is a big question mark, “ because the Ukrainians are fighting very, very hard.”