Russia withdraws combat troops from Mariupol after declaring ‘liberation’

Gunmen of the special forces of the Russian Republic of Chechnya in Mariupol on April 21 – Photo: REUTERS

The AP news agency quoted Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, as saying that the Russian military had withdrawn some elite units from Mariupol. According to his estimates, at least 12 units have withdrawn and transferred to other fronts in eastern Ukraine.

However, according to Ukrainian officials, the reduction of Russia’s military presence in Mariupol does not mean that the situation here has eased.

Petro Andryushchenko, an official of the Ukrainian government, accused Russia of “bombing every day” on the Azovstal iron and steel plant, which Russia considers the last resistance of Ukrainian forces in the city of Mariupol.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had “liberated” Mariupol from “neo-fascist and Ukrainian far-right” forces, and was besieging and isolating the fighters entrenched in the Azovstal factory.

“The fascists ignored Russia’s request to release the accompanying women and children, leaving them free to go in the direction they wanted,” the Russian side said in a statement on April 22. .

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an attack on the factory to be canceled to avoid bloodshed. Instead, he asked to tighten the ring around the factory so that “not even a fly can fly through”.

In a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel on April 22, President Putin emphasized that Moscow guarantees the lives of all people who drop their guns and leave the factory. However, he accused the Kiev authorities of not allowing them to surrender.

Putin also urged Brussels to pressure Ukrainian forces to stop “massive” attacks on settlements in eastern Ukraine and “gross violations” of international humanitarian law.

In response, Michel called on Russia to open humanitarian corridors for people to freely leave Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities for the Eastern Orthodox Easter.

In an update on the military situation in Ukraine on the morning of April 23, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russia would continue to carry out air strikes and shelling to suppress the resistance of Ukrainian forces.

This is because adopting “new methods of combat” requires time to transition and adapt to new processes, the Ministry of Defense explains. Therefore, for the foreseeable future Russia will continue to rely on artillery and air power to try to break through Ukraine’s defenses.

According to British defense intelligence, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s statement “adopting new methods of warfare” was a tacit admission that the Russian advances did not go as planned.