Ukraine has received fighter jets to help it counter a Russian offensive in the country’s east as the last Ukrainian fighter jets who had taken refuge in Mariupol have made a desperate plea to the international community to rescue them, Agence France-Presse reports.
“Perhaps we are living our last days, if not our last hours,” the commander of Ukrainian soldiers besieged in Mariupol, a strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine that Moscow wants to control.
“The number of the enemy is ten times greater than our number,” Sergey Volina from the 36th Marine Brigade wrote on Facebook. We appeal to all world leaders and ask them to help us. We ask them to use the extraction procedure and transfer us to the territory of a third country.”
The Ukrainian side is protecting only one facility – the Azovstal metallurgical plant, where, in addition to the military, civilians are hiding, the German news agency reports.
Russia, for its part, claims to have opened a corridor that should allow Ukrainian forces that have decided to surrender to leave Mariupol. However, last night (Tuesday) the Russian army reported that “no one” had taken this humanitarian corridor. The source said the corridor will reopen on Wednesday starting at 1100 GMT.
In the city, where the Ukrainian authorities fear between 20,000 and 22,000 civilians have died, the fighting is centered around the Azovstal steel plant.
The Mariupol City Council reported on Telegram on Tuesday that Ukrainian militants had taken refuge on the spot, but that “at least 1,000 civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly, are in underground shelters” within the industrial complex.
On Tuesday, Russia urged the defenders of Mariupol to stop resisting after the first warning on Sunday of an attempt to seize the city. Her control of Mariupol will allow her to link Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, to the two pro-Russian breakaway republics of Donbass.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening again called for the evacuation of civilians still in Mariupol.
“The situation in Mariupol is extremely critical,” the President of Ukraine said in a video on his Facebook page, accusing the Russian army of “obstructing all efforts aimed at organizing humanitarian corridors and saving our people.”
With this attack on eastern Ukraine, Russia confirms the start of a “new phase” of the war it launched in February, and Ukraine’s western allies decided to respond by moving forward with Kyiv’s military support by sending in fighter jets.
“Ukrainians have more combat aircraft at their disposal today than they did two weeks ago,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.
He added: “Without going into the details of what other countries are offering, I can say that they have received aircraft and additional parts to increase their fleet,” implying that these are Russian-made aircraft.
Kyiv has asked Western partners for a MiG-29 aircraft to train its soldiers in, and it belongs to a small number of Eastern European countries.
After Joe Biden announced the delivery of Howitzer artillery last week, the latest move reflects a change in the West’s position, which has been refusing to provide Ukraine with heavy weapons for more than a month in order to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
During the video meeting, the United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Canada, Romania and Japan decided to “increase pressure on the Kremlin, especially through the adoption of new sanctions.”
The Western comments came after the Ukrainian military confirmed on Tuesday that the Russians had “intensified their offensive” along the front line in the country’s east.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov acknowledged the start of a “new phase of the Russian military operation.”
For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said he was following up on a “liberation plan” for the pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (eastern Ukraine) drawn up by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who recognized their independence.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian Air Force launched “precision missiles” and neutralized 13 fortified positions of the Ukrainian army, calling on the Ukrainians to surrender. “Do not resist fate and take the only right decision to stop hostilities and lay down your arms,” the statement says.
A senior US Department of Defense official said Russia has stepped up its military presence in eastern and southern Ukraine, deploying a total of 76 battalions to the country.
In New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres denounced this new Russian offensive, asking both sides to end hostilities in a four-day “humanitarian pause” on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.
On the ground, Russia spoke of dozens of other missile strikes in southern Ukraine, on the other front line.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed on Tuesday evening that over the past day in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions they repelled 10 attacks by Russian troops and destroyed “12 tanks.”
On Tuesday, Natalya Gomenyuk, spokeswoman for the Southern Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that Moscow, which has occupied the city of Kherson, is “gathering forces” to advance towards the Mykolaiv region in the west, where shelling has intensified. she said.
In this area, the southern command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Tuesday that a hospital had been bombed in Pashtank, but the number of victims is unknown.
In Kherson, residents continue to demonstrate against the Russian presence and their boycott of goods “imported by the occupiers”, as indicated by the Southern Command.