LAST UPDATE 23:58
The Azofstal plant has been turned into the most important battlefield, as the Ukrainian resistance tries to keep “with fingernails and teeth” the last point left in Mariupol.
Russia is hitting the Azovstal steel plant, one of the last pockets of resistance in Mariupol, with bunker-buster bombs, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Pontoliak. “People are watching the killing of children online and remain silent,” Pontoliak wrote on Twitter.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has issued a new call to Ukrainian soldiers fortified at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to lay down their arms on Wednesday. He stressed that not a single Ukrainian soldier had accepted the previous proposal for surrender of weapons today. Russian troops will maintain a ceasefire in the area around Azovstal while the proposal is in force, starting at 2 pm on April 20, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.
Mariupol could fall to Russian forces in a matter of days, a European official said today, warning that the city’s woes could be worse than those experienced by Butsa, where Russians are accused of atrocities, which the Kremlin denies. . “Ultimately, we really expect the complete destruction of the city and many casualties among the civilians in Mariupol,” said the official, who asked not to be named because of the “sensitive” issue he was talking about. “I’m afraid it will be worse than Butcha. And by May 9, (Russian President Vladimir Putin) could announce that he has liberated Mariupol. So I guess Mariupol will be under control in the coming days,” he said. official speaking to American journalists.
Russian forces are attacking Ukrainian positions along the entire 480-kilometer front line east of Donbass. The purpose of Russia’s new offensive in eastern Ukraine is to occupy the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, to establish a land connection between these territories and Crimea, and to destroy the armed forces, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced today. .
At the same time, the European Union, through Ursula von der Leyen, and the United States, through Joe Biden, decided to strike at Vladimir Putin’s Russia. new package of sanctions in an effort to further increase the pressure.
On Tuesday afternoon, Zelensky demanded that the martial law declared in the country be extended for another 30 days.
Зи Президент України вніс до Верховної Ради України коннопроект про затвердження Указу “Про продовження строку дії воєнного стану в Україні” (№ 7300).
Докоментом пропонується продовжити строк дії воєнного стану в Україні з 05 год. 30 hv. 25 kwatny 2022 roko strokom na 30 dіb. pic.twitter.com/rJUWsqDVLQ– Verkhovna Rada України (@verkhovna_rada) April 19, 2022
A European official said that about 10,000 – 20,000 Wagner mercenaries are on the side of the Russian forces on Ukrainian territory.
Battle with time
Some of Ukraine’s best forces are fighting in the east, but they are far fewer than the Russians. Russia has up to 76 regular teams in Ukraine. They have up to 1,000 staff members each and are highly concentrated in the east. They have enormous artillery and air attack capability. According to the BBC, Ukraine says: “Look, if we are to have a chance to repel this great attack, we need heavy weapons, Starstreak missiles, anti-tank missiles, air defense units.” Moscow is well aware of this and has begun targeting supply routes from which these supplies come, from Poland, Slovakia and other NATO countries. It is really a struggle against time to supply the besieged Ukrainian army in time to repel this attack. This could have any effect, and even if they defeat Russia at this stage, the Ukrainians have not yet succeeded, because there is no indication that Vladimir Putin will not continue, according to the BBC.
How big are the forces fighting in the east?
Russian forces: For several weeks, Moscow has been hoarding aid – new units rebuilt from northeastern Ukraine – in the Donbas region, according to the Institute for War Studies (ISW). U.S. officials say Russia now has 76 battle groups in the east, adding 11 to the region in recent days. They usually include 700 to 900 soldiers plus military equipment. Another way of saying this is by saying that there are about 70,000 Russian soldiers in Donbas, according to Ukrainian estimates. Russian security policy expert Dr. Snetkov points out that there are believed to be 22 other battle groups around Mariupol. If this key city falls, it will allow these forces to move north and take part in the battle of Donbass, which could be important but perhaps not decisive, says Snetkov.
Ukrainian forces: But while we have estimates of the number of Russian forces from Western services, from Ukraine and Russia itself, we have heard far less about the size of the Ukrainian forces and the losses, says Snetkov. This is partly because Ukraine does not want to share this information in case it could be beneficial to its enemy, and the West seems to be pursuing an implicit agreement to keep quiet about it, he says. At the start of the war, Ukraine had 10 brigades in the east of the country, considered to be the best-equipped and best-trained soldiers in the country.
Military equipment: The Ukrainians have the manpower but lack military equipment, while the Russian forces have sufficient military equipment but no manpower, says Snetkov, given the traditional view that the attacking forces need an overwhelming number compared to the defense. The fighting in the east is likely to be different from previous battles around Kyiv, which are more like the conventional battles of World War II, with trenches and heavy equipment such as tanks, Snetkov said. Russian forces could gain ground with a high concentration of artillery and numbers, but a dramatic success is unlikely, according to the ISW.
What is happening on Ukrainian soil
Kharkiv: Heavy bombardment of the village of Saltivka has started for at least three hours. At least three people were killed and 16 were injured, the governor of the region, Oleh Sinehubov, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. The head of the regional administration in Kharkov announced that a Russian fighter was successfully shot down in the village of Balakliya.
Lugansk: Russian artillery is already in Zurich attacking. At the same time, a little further east, the Ukrainian army repulsed Russian attacks on the cities of Popasna and Rubizne. A major blow to the civilian population is the fact that power has been cut off in Lugansk as a result of the bombing.
Cremina: The Russian “orcs” took control of the city of Kremlin in eastern Ukraine, said Sergi Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration in a briefing on Tuesday. “The Kremlin is under the control of the orcs. They entered the city,” said Haidai. Haidai added that the troops withdrew from the city and took new positions.
Donetsk: The Russian army has been bombing the towns of Mariinka, Avdivka and Ocheretine in the Donbas region since last night.
#Donetsk region. Shooting from the “DPR” side. pic.twitter.com/wxPWZRXx5S
– NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 18, 2022
Mariupol: After enduring a brutal attack for more than a month, Ukrainian fighters in the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol rejected the Russian ultimatum.
Drone footage overlooking Azovstal iron and steelworks plant from this morning shows a very battered Mariupol. Footage shows this area: 47.108208, 37.620648. Source: https://t.co/YrrsxLJAlP pic.twitter.com/4eDk51Q75p
– Benjamin Strick (@BenDoBrown) April 19, 2022
The Russian army dropped a powerful bomb on a hospital located in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, leaving 300 people and children under the rubble, Ukrainian MP Sergei Taruta from Mariupol wrote in a Facebook post. Ukrinform news agency. The adviser to the mayor of the city, Piotr Andriushenko, denied the information in a post on the Telegram messaging application.
Zaporizhia: Fierce fighting continues in the area of Polochi, between Zaporizhia and Mariupol. Russian troops bombed Orihiv, Preobrazhenka, Poloch region with MLRS Grad. A 14-year-old girl was injured. Russian artillery bombs the villages of Stepne and Malokaterynivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Hersonissos: The Ukrainian army repulsed Russian attacks in Alexandria, Kherson.
Mykolaif: Heavy bombardment by the Russian army in Mykolaif for many hours.
Odessa: The activity of the local air defense is continuous and so explosions are constantly heard in the city.
Source: Capital
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