While his army was still trying to seize Mariupol, whose last defenders ignored an ultimatum to lay down their arms, the President of Russia yesterday honored a brigade that Ukraine accuses of having participated in the butchery of the town of Boutcha.
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“No, the city did not fall. Our soldiers are still there. They will fight to the end,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal said yesterday.
The head of diplomacy Dmytro Kuleba went further by accusing the Russian army of wanting to “raze the city at all costs”.
According to the American Institute for the Study of War, “groups of isolated Ukrainians probably remain active outside the Azovstal factory”, the main pocket of resistance, but will only hold out for a few days.
“The final assaults will be expensive” for the Russian forces, assures the institute.
Taking this port city would be an important victory for the Russians, as it would allow them to connect the Donbass region, partly controlled by their supporters, to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
More than 100,000 civilians are on the brink of starvation in Mariupol, also lacking water and heating, according to the World Food Programme.
A humanitarian corridor still could not be set up yesterday for the evacuation of civilians from combat zones, notably in Mariupol, the authorities announced for the second consecutive day, accusing Russia of “blocking”.
Prisoner exchange
The Russian public television channel VGTRK broadcast a video yesterday showing two British prisoners after fighting on the Ukrainian side, in Mariupol.
With drawn features, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin addressed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whom they expect to negotiate their release against that of Viktor Medvedchuk, recently arrested in Ukraine.
Photo REUTERS
Aiden Aslin, a British fighter captured in Mariupol, on Russian television.
Photo REUTERS
His compatriot Shaun Pinner was kidnapped at the same time.
They do not specify who is currently holding them, Russian forces or their separatist allies in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.
Shaun Pinner is “neither a volunteer nor a mercenary, but officially serves in the Ukrainian army,” his family says. After serving in the British Army, he moved to Ukraine, where he married a Ukrainian woman.
Kyiv for its part broadcast a video of the businessman Medvedchuk, in which he says he wants to be exchanged “for the defenders of Mariupol and its inhabitants”. The 67-year-old pro-Russian MP had been arrested by the country’s special services while on the run since the Russian invasion.
Russian soldiers honored
Vladimir Putin yesterday awarded an honorary title for “heroism” to a brigade that Ukraine has accused of having participated in the abuses committed in Boutcha, near Kyiv.
The discovery of corpses of civilians in its streets after the withdrawal of Russian soldiers had sparked a wave of indignation. Ukrainian investigators are still working there to gather elements of “war crimes”.
Photo: AFP
Bodies of Boutcha victims are transported to a morgue by truck.
Russia, for its part, assured that the Ukrainian authorities and the Western media had staged the massacre.
– With Camille Payant