Possible escape route coming for Mariupol as Russia keeps hitting key Ukraine battleground
By: Clyde Hughes (UPI)
The biggest problem with these humanitarian efforts is that neither the Kyiv government or Russia have complete control over the fighting in Ukraine. There are so many unorganized groups and militias fighting in Ukraine that negotiated cease fires are almost impossible to enforce. Negotiated ceasefires during the eight year war in Donbas have rarely lasted more than a few hours and many ceasefires only lasted minutes.
Ignoring the ethnic undercurrent of the fighting in Ukraine over the last eight years is not going to end the war in Ukraine. The war between the Kyiv government and the Russian Federation only hides the real war that has been fought since 2014. And neither the Kyiv government or Russia have complete control over the fighting.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
April 20 (UPI) -- New hope arose on Wednesday for opening a humanitarian corridor in southern Ukraine to allow people trapped in Mariupol a way out of the fighting, as Russian forces kept up shelling in the strategic port city.
A Ukraine official said the Russians have agreed to open an escape route for women, children and the elderly in Mariupol, which has been under heavy attack for weeks. The city is a key battleground for Moscow and would facilitate its new offensive in the eastern part of Ukraine.
If verified, the agreement for the Mariupol corridor comes after Russia set a new deadline for Ukrainian troops to vacate the city or face a new military assault. Moscow had originally given Ukrainian forces until noon Tuesday to do so.
Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that, under the proposed corridor, trapped residents in Mariupol will be moved to Zaporizhzhia via Berdyansk. There have been repeated and unsuccessful efforts to evacuate civilians in Mariupol and other populated targets in Ukraine since the war began in February.
"Due to the very difficult security situation, changes may occur during the corridor," Vereshchuk advised Ukrainians on Wednesday, according to The Guardian. "So, please follow the relevant official announcements. We will do our best to make everything work properly."
Moscow, meanwhile, is keeping up shelling on Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant, where much of the Ukrainian resistance is stationed. They have flatly refused Russian demands to surrender. And Ukrainian authorities are repeating pleas for aid and weapons to fend off Russian fighters.
"This could be the last appeal of our lives," Ukrainian Maj. Serhiy Volyna said, according to CNBC. "We are probably facing our last days, if not hours.
"The enemy is outnumbering us 10 to one. They have advantage in the air, in artillery, in their forces on land, in equipment and in tanks. We appeal and plead to all world leaders to help us."
British intelligence reports say that Ukrainian forces have been able to hold off increasing Russian efforts to advance in the Donbas region in the east as Moscow's new phase of the war kicks into higher gear.
"Russia's ability to progress continues to be impacted by the environmental, logistical and technical challenges that have beset them so far, combined with the resilience of the highly-motivated Ukrainian armed forces," Britain's defense ministry said in a tweet Wednesday.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Wednesday to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Who is doing what in Ukraine? The United States military never figured out how to fight an ethnic insurgent war so their focus is on organized military activity. That's why the US military was blindsided in Afghanistan.
We're only being shown what is easy to see. That's great for propaganda but doesn't tell us much about the war within the war.