Mariupol in grasp, Russia now eyes SE Ukraine ‘annexation’

MARIUPOL: As hundreds more Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol surrendered to Russia on Thursday, Moscow was also seeking to project control over southeastern Ukraine, where a high-ranking official declared that seized parts of the region would “take a worthy place in our Russian family. ” The visit this week by a deputy Russian prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, to the occupied city of Melitopol suggested that the Kremlin was trying to lay the groundwork for annexing the region — even without having announced such plans outright.
Russia’s control over the south, however tenuous, covers a vast expanse of territory including Ukraine’s agricultural heartland, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and several key ports. Along with Russia’s naval dominion in the Black Sea, annexing the region would allow Moscow to tighten its stranglehold on the Ukrainian economy and solidify its blockade of Ukraine’s southern coast. The Ukrainian military has warned that Russia is fortifying its defensive positions in southern Ukraine, even as its forces have retreated in the northeast and failed to gain ground in the eastern Donbas region. Moscow’s announcements are also part of a propaganda campaign aimed at conveying control over territories where military analysts say its forces could still face both public uprisings and counteroffensives.
Khusnullin said that Russia would soon begin charging Ukraine for electricity from the region’s giant nuclear power plant, while a local proRussia leader suggested that the ruined city of Mariupol could be turned into a resort. Whether Russia intended to go ahead with such plans or if they represented trial balloons or poorly coordinated messaging was not clear.
The Russian defence ministry said that more than 700 Ukrainian fighters from the Azov battalion had surrendered over the past 24 hours at the steel plant in Mariupol. A total of 1,730 fighters have surrendered, Moscow said, as it seeks to project victory. Ukrainian officials declined to com- ment, saying it could endanger rescue efforts. Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy head of the Azov Regiment, released a video to say he and other commanders were still on the territory. “A certain operation is going on, the details of which I will not disclose. Thank you to the whole world for support. ”
Meanwhile in Germany, G7 financial leaders agreed to provide Ukraine with $18 billion in funds that Kyiv says will help in speed up its victory.