Diplomatic efforts seek to save Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol, says Zelenskiy

kyiv, May 7 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said diplomatic efforts were underway to save remaining fighters hiding inside the Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol as more civilians were evacuated from the bombed-out plant. .

Defenders have vowed not to give up. Ukrainian authorities fear Russian forces may want to eliminate them on Monday, in time for Moscow’s commemorations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Ukraine said 50 civilians were evacuated on Friday and accused Russia of violating a truce intended to allow dozens more still trapped underground to come out after weeks of siege.

Mariupol has endured the most destructive bombardment of the 10-week war. The sprawling Soviet-era Azovstal plant is the last part of the city, a strategic southern port on the Sea of ​​Azov, still held by Ukrainian fighters.

Zelenskiy said in a late-night video address that Ukraine was working on a diplomatic effort to save defenders holed up inside the steel mill. It was unclear how many Ukrainian fighters remained there.

“Influential intermediaries are involved, influential states,” he said, but did not provide further details.

The United Nations-brokered evacuations began last weekend of some of the hundreds of civilians who had taken refuge in a network of tunnels and bunkers below the plant. But they were detained during the week due to renewed fighting.

On Friday afternoon, 50 women, children and the elderly were evacuated, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, adding that the operation would continue on Saturday. The Russian side constantly violated a ceasefire, she said, which made the evacuation very slow. read more

Russia confirmed the number of evacuees and said: “The humanitarian operation in Azovstal will continue on May 7.”

The city’s mayor estimated earlier this week that 200 people were trapped at the plant with little food or water. It was unclear how many remained.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Russia was trying to wipe out forces inside the plant in order to seize it on Monday as a gift to President Vladimir Putin in time for the Victory Day holiday.

Putin declared victory in Mariupol on April 21, ordered the plant closed and called for Ukrainian forces to disarm. But Russia later resumed its assault on the plant. read more

Asked about Russia’s plans to mark the World War II anniversary day in parts of Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The time will come to mark Victory Day in Mariupol.”

Ukraine and its Western allies say that after failing to seize the capital kyiv, Russian forces have made slow progress on their revised goal of capturing the country’s east and south, but may also plan to engage Ukraine’s western neighbor Moldova. . read more

Mariupol, which sits between the Crimean peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014 and parts of eastern Ukraine seized by Russian-backed separatists that year, is key to uniting the two Russian-controlled territories and blocking Ukrainian exports.

In the Donetsk region, morning airstrikes targeted Malotaranivka, Druzhkivka, Konstantynivka and Bakhmut, damaging factories and destroying houses, Zelenskiy’s office said.

Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Sinegubov reported three shelling attacks in the city of Kharkiv and the village of Skovorodinyvka, sparking a fire that nearly destroyed the Hryhoriy Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum.

Skovoroda was a philosopher and poet in the 18th century in the Russian Empire.

“This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great philosopher,” Sinegubov said in a social media post. “The occupiers can destroy the museum where Hryhoriy Skovoroda worked during the last years of his life and where he was buried. But they will not destroy our memory and our values.”

Sinegubov said the museum’s collection was not damaged because it had been moved to a safer location.

Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of what it calls Western-sponsored anti-Russian nationalism.

Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war and have accused Russian forces of war crimes. Moscow denies the accusations, saying it is targeting only military or strategic sites, not civilians.

More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled abroad since the beginning of the invasion.

US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a $150 million arms package for Ukraine, providing additional artillery ammunition, radar and other equipment in the latest in a series of transfers to help kyiv repel the invasion. From Russia. read more

Biden and other Western leaders plan to hold a video call with Zelenskiy on Sunday, the White House said, in a show of unity.

The UN Security Council, including Russia, expressed “deep concern” over the situation in Ukraine, its first statement since the February 24 invasion. read more

The toughest sanctions ever imposed on a major power have sent Russia’s $1.8 trillion economy headed for its biggest contraction since the years after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. The European Union has proposed more measures .

But the new sanctions package, which includes an oil embargo, has met with some opposition, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban likening it to an “atomic bomb” being dropped on the economy.

Information from the offices of Pavel Polityuk and Reuters; Written by Michael Perry; Edited by William Mallard

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