Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – On Wednesday, Russian troops tightened the leash on defenders cut at a steel mill at Ukraine’s last known stronghold in Mariupol.
After the shelter was subjected to repressive attacks by new firefighters, Ukrainian authorities fought to open the evacuation corridor to people stranded in the ruined port city, Moscow’s main battlefield, to seize the industrial east of the country.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it had submitted a draft ceasefire request, the number of people fleeing the country had exceeded 5 million, and the West was struggling to provide Ukraine with heavier weapons for a potential new stage of war.
Due to the high level of global tension, Russia announced the first successful test of a new type of ICBM, the Sarmat. President Vladimir Putin boasted that he could outsmart any missile defense system and imagine those threatening Russia, and the head of Russia’s space agency called the launch from northern Russia a “gift to NATO”.
The Pentagon called the test “routine” and said it was not considered a threat.
On the battlefield, the Ukrainian army said Moscow was continuing its attacks in the east, discovering weak areas in Ukraine’s defense lines. Russia claims they have carried out hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades and air strikes on targets, including concentrations of troops and vehicles.
The Kremlin’s stated goal is to seize the Donbas, a mostly Russian -speaking eastern region with coal mines, steel factories and heavy equipment vital to the Ukrainian economy. His separation would give Putin a crucial victory two months after the war, after a failed attempt to invade the capital, Kiev.
Analysts say the attack in the east could escalate into a formidable war as Russia fights the most experienced and toughest Ukrainian troops who have fought Promoskov separatists in the Donbas over the past eight. years.
At the start of a potentially significant attack, Russia said it had submitted a draft document to Ukraine outlining its demands as part of talks to end the conflict, just days after Putin said that the conversations are “stuck”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The ball is in their court, we are waiting for a response.” He did not specify the details of the bill and did not know when it was sent or any new offers offered to Ukrainians who submitted their requests last month.
The adviser to the president of Ukraine said that Kiev is reviewing the proposals.
Moscow has long demanded, among other things, that Ukraine refuse to join NATO. Ukraine has said it will agree to it in exchange for security guarantees from many other countries.
In the devastated Mariupol, Ukraine said the Russians dropped heavy bombs to match the rest of the Azvostal steel plant, which was likely the last pocket of resistance in the city. Several thousand Ukrainian soldiers, according to Russian estimates, remained in the factory and the labyrinth of tunnels and bunkers, covering approximately 11 square kilometers (4 square miles).
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian posted a video request on Facebook asking world leaders to help evacuate people from the factory, saying, “We have more than 500 wounded soldiers and road- hundreds of civilians, including women and children. “
The officer, who identified himself as Sergei Volinsky of the 36th Marine Brigade, said, “This may be our last appeal. We may only have a few days or hours available.” The video could not be independently verified.
The Russian team issued a new ultimatum to the defenders who surrendered on Wednesday, but the Ukrainians ignored previous requests to leave the labyrinth of tunnels and factory bunkers.
More than 100,000 people are said to have been trapped in Mariupol, where there were more than 400,000 before the war.
Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said there was a preliminary agreement to open a humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly to leave and travel to the Ukrainian -controlled western city of Zaporizhia on Wednesday afternoon.
Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boichenko urged the population to leave, even though such agreements have previously been broken, where Russians are bombing escape routes or otherwise blocking buses trying to evacuate refugees. people in the city.
“Don’t be afraid to evacuate to Zaporizhia, where you’ll get all the help you need – food, medicine, essentials – and most of all, you’ll be safe,” the mayor said in a statement.
Mariupol has strategic and symbolic importance on both sides. The extent of the suffering has made it the center of world war. The fall of Mariupol would take Ukraine as an important port, complete the land bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula that Moscow hijacked from Ukraine in 2014, and free Russian troops who crossed the Donbas.
As Russia continued to deploy troops and equipment in the Donbas, Western countries hurried to increase their military supplies for the new phase of the war in Kiev, which was likely to include trench warfare, long-range attacks. of artillery and tank battles. size. Open relief.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new weapons package that includes additional artillery in the coming days, and Canada and the Netherlands have also said they will send heavier weapons.
In addition, a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity about the Pentagon’s assessment of the war, said that the training of Ukrainian personnel on American 155mm howitzers began in a European country in outside the United States. ‘Ukraine and the first of the 18 have promised such weapons. It is starting to land on the continent.
Meanwhile, Putin praised the launch of Sarmat as a “great and important event” for Russia’s defense industry and praised the missile as “unparalleled in the world.” Sarmat plans to eventually replace the Soviet -made missile with NATO’s codenamed Satan as an integral part of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
“This truly unique weapon will amplify the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia’s security from external threats and prevent those seeking threats our country from the heat of furious and aggressive rhetoric, ”Putin said.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Russia had informed the U.S. that it would test the missile and “we do not see it as a threat to the U.S. and its allies.”
In finding a way to peace, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for meetings with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in their respective capitals to discuss “what urgent steps can be taken to stop the fighting, “said the president. Stefan Dujarric. The UN did not receive an immediate response.
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Associated Press reporters Mstislav Chernov and Felipe Dana in Kharkov, Ukraine; Jessica Fish of Kramatorsk, Ukraine; And Robert Burns and Amer Madhani contributed to this report in Washington, DC, as well as other AP staff members around the world.
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Follow the AP War coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Source: Huffpost
