Reuters news agency on March 23 quoted the Mariupol City Council as saying that intense air strikes by Russian warplanes were turning Mariupol into “the ashes of a dead land”.
Officials Ukraine also said that, a day after the Mariupol government rejected Moscow’s ultimatum to surrender, many fighting and shelling still raged on the streets here.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be still trapped inside buildings, without access to food, water, electricity, lighting or heating.
A Ukrainian Army soldier at a destroyed village on the front lines in eastern Kyiv, Ukraine March 21, 2022. Photo: Reuters
The RIA news agency quoted a separatist leader as saying that Russian military forces and Moscow-backed separatist units had captured about half of the port city of Mariupol, home to some 400,000 people.
According to Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, fierce fighting is taking place inside the city. Both civilians and soldiers of the Ukrainian Army were attacked by Russian fire.
“There is nothing left there,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a speech to the Italian parliament.
Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told CNN television that the city was in complete blockade and had no access to humanitarian aid.
“The city is under constant bombing, 50-100 bombs are dropped by Russian planes every day … A lot of people die, a lot of people cry, it’s terrible!”, Mr. Orlov emphasized! .
Mariupol has been at the center of a special military operation launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine since February 24.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: Soha.vn – Read the original article here
