According to Rustam Minekayev, Russia, however, has broader military objectives, which on the ground means that it does not appear that the Russian military machine will stop after the occupation of Mariupol.
In this context According to Russian state news agencies today, Moscow plans to occupy the entire eastern Donbass region by connecting it to the Crimean peninsula (which it annexed in 2014) and then move to Transnistria, occupying all of southern Ukraine and excluding it from the Black Sea.
This would mean that Russian forces would advance hundreds of miles beyond the current lines and beyond the major Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa. As Minekayev put it, “control in southern Ukraine is another route to Transnistria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed.” Moscow's claims that it has no territorial ambitions were false. “They stopped hiding it,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Twitter.
Russia “acknowledged that the goal of the & # 8216; second phase & # 8217; of the war is not the victory over the supposed Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. “Transnistria is a Russian-controlled region of Moldova that has hosted Russian troops since the fall of the Soviet Union.” With Russian support, Transnistria fought Moldova in the 1990s, leaving the country with de facto independence and guarding 1,500 Russian troops.
The area is recognized as part of Moldova. The unrecognized state is strongly influenced internationally by nostalgia for the Soviet Union and its kinship with Russia, which is encouraged by state propaganda.
Moscow's message to Azovstal & # 8211; “Raise white flags to let you go”
Russia said today it was ready to observe “at any time” a truce “in whole or in part” of the Azovstal steel plant – the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol – to allow the militants to leave the area along with other civilians who remain. RIA news agency reported today, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense.
According to the ministry, the claims of Ukraine and some Western countries that Russia forbids civilians to leave the city are “unfounded”, the TASS news agency.
“The starting point for this humanitarian ceasefire will be the raising of white flags by Ukrainian armed groups throughout or part of Azovstal,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. evacuees will have the option of being transferred to Ukrainian or Russian-controlled territories, Ukrainian soldiers will be treated well and the wounded will be cared for.
“This humanitarian initiative by the Russian Federation is valid 24 hours a day,” the ministry said, adding that “buses and cars”, as well as ambulances, are permanently available and ready to “transport people”.
< The ministry announced that it had forwarded this proposal to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Verestsuk, to the UN, the OSCE and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and that this message would be transmitted every 30 minutes Ukrainian armed formations of Azofstal ".
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday the capture of the strategic port city of Mariupol, after nearly two months of heavy fighting, although the Azovstal industrial site is still under Ukrainian control.
Instead of attacking In this vast, partly underground space, Putin ordered Russian forces to besiege him in an attempt to force his defenders to surrender. The death toll from the fighting in Mariupol is expected to be extremely heavy and the damage in the city huge.
Borrell: Atrocities against civilians in Mariupol
The EU supports Ukraine's call to the Kremlin to allow the safe evacuation of civilians in Mariupol, EU High Representative Josep said in a written statement Borrell, stressing the need to create immediate humanitarian corridors, with the necessary assurances of a ceasefire, from Azovstal and other parts of the city to other parts of Ukraine.
Josef Borel also notes that free and secure access must be ensured for those providing humanitarian assistance, in accordance with the basic principles of human rights and international humanitarian law.
“For weeks, people have been witnessing a brutal illegal attack on Mariupol by Russia that has led to widespread destruction of the city, including atrocities against civilians, under the distorted pretext of 'liberating' the city. “Thousands of its inhabitants have been deported to Russia or forcibly displaced to areas not controlled by the government,” he said. In addition, the High Representative points out that “despite the massacre caused by Russia, more than 100,000 citizens remain in Mariupol.”
“We commend Ukraine for its efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the evacuation of civilians and “We'm sorry that Russia is not reciprocating,” he said.
Source: protothema.gr/PA-PE
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Putin in contact with Charles Michel:” Kyiv is not ready for acceptable solutions “
