On the 54th day of the war in Ukraine, the battered city of Mariupol, overlooking the Sea of Azov in the south-east of the country, seems to be on the verge of falling after seven weeks of Russian siege. The Russian army has estimated that 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers remain barricaded in the vast area of the Azovstal steel plant, in the last pocket of resistance. Moscow had set an ultimatum at noon for their surrender, saying that those who gave up their weapons would be spared their lives. The deadline has passed and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal promised ABC News: “We will fight until the end, until victory, we do not intend to give up”. The capture of Mariupol would allow Russian forces to join in an all-out offensive, scheduled for the next few days, for control of the Donbass. Continued bombing and fighting have reduced the city to dust and killed at least 21,000 people, according to Kiev’s estimate. About 100,000 of the 450,000 pre-war residents remain trapped without water, food, electricity. “Anyone who continues the resistance will be destroyed,” threatened General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian defense ministry. Zelensky warns: “We will not sell the Donbass, ready to fight 10 years if needed.”
Explosions were recorded in Kramatorsk, site of the massacre at the train station, while in Zolote a missile on residential buildings killed two people, and in Kharkiv, bombed 23 times in the last 24 hours, a raid killed 5 inhabitants and destroyed a project canteen. humanitarian of chef José Andrés. Novaya Gazeta has collected the testimony of the mother of a crew member of the Russian cruiser Moskva: 40 sailors killed in the sinking.
Massimo Giannini’s editorial – If only the Pope hopes for peace
Interception – “Go and rape Ukrainian women”, is how the wife of a Russian soldier authorized the violence
The background – Thus the Ukrainian army was transformed by the West
The analysis / 1 – In the Ukrainian Stalingrad where surrender is impossible
The analysis / 2 – Thus Moscow transformed Ukraine into the Third Reich
The case – Italian ports off limits: furniture, kitchens and bathrooms on the last Russian ship to sail from Venice
How to donate – Join the Mirror of Times fundraiser for Ukraine
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01.25 – Cnn: Mariupol closed by the Russians in exit and entry from today
An adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, Petro Andriushchenko, said Russian forces announced that the besieged city would be closed to entry and exit on Monday, warning men who remain in the city “will be screened” to be “relocated. “. This was reported by CNN, which stressed that it was unable to verify the declaration independently. The Telegram adviser also said that the Russians have begun to distribute passes to move around the besieged city and posted a photo of hundreds of Mariupol residents lining up to get permits.
01.10 – US analysis: a major Russian attack in the East is unlikely in the near future
The hypothesis that the Russian army will be able to “conduct a major offensive to the East in the next few days is less likely.” The US institute of analysis ISW writes in its daily update, one of the reference points of military and strategic studies that closely follows what has been happening in Ukraine since the first days of the Russian invasion. “Russian forces deployed in eastern Ukraine continue to have morale and supply problems and it seems unlikely that they intend or will be able to conduct a major offensive wave in the coming days,” writes the Institute for the Study of War.
00.50 – The governor of Kharkiv: some countries in the region reconquered
The Ukrainian armed forces have recaptured some countries in the Kharkiv region. The governor of the region, Oleg Sinegubov, announced it on Telegram: these are the countries of Bazaliivka and Lebyazhe and a part of Kutuzivka. Furthermore, he wrote, they advanced into the country of Mala Rohan. According to the analysis of Phillips O’Brien, lecturer in strategic studies at St Andrews in Scotland and quoted by The worldthis could mean a counterattack on the Russian army’s supply lines, and could create problems for Russian logistics coming from the Belgorod region.
00.45 – NGO denounces: 150 children taken away from Mariupol by the Russians by force
A Crimean human rights group denounced that the Russians forcibly took about 150 children away from Mariupol, 100 of them hospitalized, most of them taken from their parents. “The Russian army forcibly took about 150 children from Mariupol and transferred them to the occupied Donetsk and Russian Taganrog leadership,” said Olha Skrypnyk, head of the Crimean human rights group, Ukrinform reports. According to Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, most of the children, who are not orphans, were taken away without their parents. Sixteen would be taken away from a health club in Mariupol.
00.30 – Kiev intelligence: use of nuclear weapons unlikely
Kirill Budanov, head of the chief intelligence department of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, believes that Russia’s use of nuclear weapons is unlikely. He said it speaking on the Telethon, which was reported by the Ukrainian media. “Everyone calm down, it’s just a threat. Even if Putin loses his mind and tries to do it, technically it’s not that easy to do either. Yes, he might try to do it, but it’s unlikely he will. This is an element of bargaining, an element of blackmail towards the whole world, and everyone has understood it ». Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would only use nuclear weapons if there is a concrete threat to Russian territory.
00.00 – Zelensky calls for new sanctions against the “occupation of the ruble” in the southern regions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the allies to further increase sanctions against the Russian banking and financial system which – he says – are extending the “ruble zone” in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions in the south of the country. “The democratic world must respond to what the occupiers in the south of our state are doing, in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions,” Zelensky said in a video message. Torture centers are built there, local authorities and anyone deemed visible to local communities is kidnapped. Teachers are blackmailed, pension money is stolen, humanitarian aid is blocked and stolen, and people starve ”. «The occupiers are also trying to split the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, following the example of the so-called“ DPR ”and“ LPR ”, by transferring this territory to the ruble zone and subordinating it to the Russian administrative machine. All this – he concluded – requires greater speed on the part of Western countries in preparing a new powerful package of sanctions ».
Here’s what happened on Sunday, April 17