Russia-Ukraine war: What do we know about the situation in Mariupol?

As of now, the main focus is on the evacuation of the seaside city, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press in an interview.

Kuleba said that an estimated 1 lakh people are trapped in the besieged city while a contingent of Ukrainian fighters hold out against Russian forces in the Azovstal steel mill, one of the last remaining pockets of Ukrainian resistance in the city, where hundreds of civilians also are taking shelter.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Guterres is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday.

Pressing Russia for an evacuation of the besieged port of Mariupol “is really something that the UN is capable of doing. And if he demonstrates political will, character, and integrity, I hope that will allow us to make one step forward,” Kuleba said.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, terming it as an exercise to “demilitarise and de-Nazify” the country. Two months on, Russian troops are yet to claim victory over any part of the country and had to retreat from the initial plan to capture the capital city of Kyiv following fierce Ukrainian resistance.

However, the situation in Mariupol has worsened.

Mass graves uncovered

Officials in the city have uncovered several mass graves containing corpses of civilians, who Ukrainian authorities said were brutally killed by the Russians. On Tuesday, the AP, quoting Mariupol officials, reported that a new mass grave has been identified north of the city.

#Russian forces conducted precision missile strikes against five #Ukrainian railway stations in central and western Ukraine on 4/25 in a likely effort to disrupt Ukrainian reinforcements to eastern Ukraine and Western aid shipments.

Read the latest: https://t.co/K1uqxV1WKv pic.twitter.com/bgv2vl4CiJ

— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) April 25, 2022

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about 10 km north of Mariupol. Satellite photos released over the past several days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.

The capture of the city would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

The battle at Azovstal

The massive Azovstal steel mill has a 24-kilometre labyrinth of underground tunnels and passages, which allowed its defenders to manoeuvre freely to repel the Russian attacks.

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 25, 2022. (Reuters)

Before the war, Ukrainian authorities prepared for the Russian offensive by building up stockpiles of food and water at Azovstal. “The plant covers a huge area, and the Ukrainians can move through underground tunnels to quickly change location,” said Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov.

Though Russian President Vladimir Putin had initially issued orders to storm the plant, he later backtracked, saying that he wanted the plant to be securely blockaded instead. However, Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal plant reported heavy shelling and Russian attacks in recent days, reported German-based Deutsche Welle media house.

Ceasefire attempts

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops would “unilaterally cease any hostilities” to allow civilians to leave the besieged steel plant Azovstal in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol. The ministry said any civilians trapped at the facility could leave in whichever direction they chose.

However, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that Kyiv had not reached any agreement with Moscow on establishing a humanitarian corridor out of the southeastern city of Mariupol.

“It is important to understand that a humanitarian corridor opens by the agreement of both sides,” Vereshchuk said on Telegram. “A corridor announced unilaterally does not provide security, and therefore is not a humanitarian corridor.”