The Greek Consul General in Mariupol, Manolis Andrulakis, likened the Ukrainian city to war-ravaged cities such as Syria’s Aleppo and Spanish Guernica.
He said upon his arrival on Sunday, the Greek capital, Athens: “Mariupol will be included in the list of cities that were completely destroyed by wars, just like Guernica, Aleppo, Grozny (Chechen) and Stalingrad (Russian).”
In this context, the military administration of the Donetsk region – after Russia recognized its independence from Ukraine – described Mariupol as a “ghost town”.
“Currently, more than 80 percent of the city’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. Of the 80 percent, about 40 percent are not salvageable,” said Pavlo Kirilenko, governor of the Donetsk region.
The United Nations described the humanitarian situation in the city as “extremely dangerous”, saying that residents “face serious shortages of food, water, and medicine that threaten their lives.”
Earlier in the day, Ukraine refused to announce the surrender of its soldiers in the southern coastal Mariupol, at the request of Russia.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said Kyiv’s abandonment of the city of Mariupol “is out of the question.”
The Russian Defense Ministry called on Ukraine to “lay down arms” in Mariupol and demanded a “written response” to its request in order to protect the city’s population and infrastructure.
“We call on units of the Ukrainian armed forces, regional defense battalions and foreign mercenaries to stop hostilities, lay down their weapons, and enter the territory controlled by Kyiv along the humanitarian corridors agreed upon with the Ukrainian side,” Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Management Center, said in a press statement. The local agency “Sputnik”.
On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine , which was followed by angry international reactions and the imposition of severe economic and financial sanctions on Moscow.
To end the operation, Russia requires Ukraine to abandon any plans to join military entities, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “NATO” and to adhere to complete neutrality, which Kyiv considers an “interference in its sovereignty.”
