As of Sunday, March 13, the all-round defense of Mariupol (Donetsk region) from the onset of Russian troops continues.
This was announced by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Mary Hakobyan.
She stressed that the military-political leadership of Ukraine regards the blockade of Mariupol by enemy troops as “problem number one”. The city is of great strategic importance.
“There is a circular defense of the city of Mariupol… It is obvious that the city is of strategic importance for the enemy in order to provide a corridor to the occupied Crimea from the occupied territory of the south of the Donetsk region, which is controlled by the Russian Federation, by land,” Hakobyan emphasized.
She also confirmed previously released information that 1,582 residents of Mariupol have already become victims of merciless Russian shelling and 12 days of blockade. The enemy is constantly bombarding residential areas of the city.
“This is revenge for the invincibility of the residents who have been showing their pro-Ukrainian position since 2014. But this is not what the military does, but terrorists who take hostage innocent civilians,” Hakobyan added.
What is known about the situation in Mariupol
As you know, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Mariupol the title of Hero City.
Mariupol is under constant shelling by Russian troops. Residential areas, hospitals, a maternity hospital, a mosque were under enemy fire. Russian invaders destroyed the building of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in the Donetsk region in Mariupol.
Local residents practically do not leave the bomb shelters, as the enemy constantly inflicts airstrikes on the city.
Mariupol is blocked: civilians cannot leave it. In addition, it is not possible to organize “green” corridors for the evacuation of people and the delivery of humanitarian aid. According to one of the residents of Mariupol, there is enough food in the city for two days.
On March 12, humanitarian aid (more than 90 tons of food and medicine) was sent from Zaporozhye to Mariupol along the “green” corridor, but the cars still have not reached the city. At the same time, Russian troops stole a humanitarian convoy along the way.
According to the Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, as of March 13, the convoy that left for Mariupol with humanitarian cargo is still moving towards the city.
