With the latest Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol refusing to surrender, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was “deliberately trying to destroy everyone there.” He said Ukraine needed more heavy weapons from the West immediately to have a chance to save the port city in the Sea of ​​Azov. “Either our partners give Ukraine all the necessary heavy weapons, the planes and without exaggeration immediately, so that we can reduce the pressure of the occupiers in Mariupol and break the blockade,” he said, “or we will do it through negotiations. that the role of our partners must be decisive “. Earlier, Zelensky had told Ukrainian journalists that the ongoing siege of Mariupol, which is costly for trapped and starving civilians, could thwart negotiations to end the war. The Azovstal steel plant is shown on the outskirts of Mariupol in this photo taken on February 23rd. The industrial complex covers an area of ​​more than 11 square kilometers. (Sergei Grits / The Associated Press)
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had been driven out of most of the city and left only at the Azovstal steel plant, where tunnels allow defenders to hide and resist until the ammunition runs out. The Russians are already controlling what is left of the city after weeks of bombing. Hitting the steel plant to get the rest is part of Russia’s preparations for the impending attack on eastern Ukraine. The occupation of Mariupol will allow Russian forces in the south, which arrived through the annexed Crimean peninsula, to fully connect with troops in the Donbas region, the eastern industrial heart of Ukraine and the focus of the impending attack.

Mariupol is a “shield defending Ukraine”

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Sunday that Mariupol defenders had engaged significant Russian forces besieging the city. He described the city as a “shield defending Ukraine” that prevented Russian troops from encircling the city from advancing on other parts of the country. Malyar said the Russians continued to strike Mariupol with airstrikes and appeared to be preparing an amphibious landing to bolster their forces in the city. Meanwhile, the scattered Russian attacks in other parts of Ukraine were an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their Western supporters that the entire country remains under threat from an invasion now in the eighth week.

Russia has pledged to intensify its missile strikes on Kyiv

After failing to occupy the Ukrainian capital and the humiliating loss of the Black Sea Fleet flagship, the Russian military administration also promised to intensify rocket attacks on the capital, Kyiv. The Russians said they had hit an armored vehicle factory on Saturday, a day after targeting a rocket factory. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Saturday’s attack killed one person and injured several others. He advised residents who had left the city earlier in the war not to return. “We do not rule out further strikes in the capital,” he said. “If you have the opportunity to stay a little longer in cities where it is safer, do it.”

Attacks in 8 areas

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the plant was among several Ukrainian military sites hit by “high-precision long-range air weapons.” The Ukrainian president’s office reported rocket attacks and bombings in eight areas across the country between Friday and Saturday. The governor of the Lviv region in western Ukraine, which has only been sporadically touched by the violence of the war, reported airstrikes in the region by Russian Su-35 aircraft taking off from neighboring Belarus. Ukrainian soldiers look at a damaged Russian tank on a road in the village of Rusaniv, in the Kiev region on Saturday. (Genya Savilov / AFP / Getty Images)
In northeastern Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said three people were killed and 34 injured Saturday. An explosion believed to have been caused by a rocket sent by rescuers running near a flea market. Workers said one person was killed and at least 18 were injured. “All the windows, all the furniture, all damaged. And the door too,” said resident Valentina Ulianova in surprise. The previous day, rockets hit a residential area of ​​Kharkiv, killing a 15-year-old boy, an infant and at least eight other people in Ukraine’s second largest city, officials said. Nate Mook, a member of the NGO World Central Kitchen run by the famous chef Jose Andres, tweeted that four workers in Kharkov were injured in a strike. Andres wrote on Twitter that the staff members were anxious but safe.

Putin “in his own war logic”

Austrian Chancellor Carl Nehammer, who met with Vladimir Putin last week in Moscow – the first European leader to do so since the invasion began on February 24 – said the Russian president was “in his own war logic” about Ukraine. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Nehammer said he believed Putin believed he was winning the war and “we have to look him in the eye and face him, what we see in Ukraine.” Nehamer said he told Putin what he saw during a visit to Kiev’s Bukha suburb, where more than 350 bodies were found along with evidence of Russian-occupied killings and torture, and “it was not a friendly conversation.” Partizan supporters wave a Serbian flag with the letter Z during a Serbian SuperLiga playoff match in Belgrade on Saturday. The “Z” has become a symbol of support for Russian military action in Ukraine. (Andrej Isakovic / AFP / Getty Images)
Zelensky estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the war and that about 10,000 had been wounded. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced on Saturday that at least 200 children were killed and more than 360 were injured. Russian forces have also captured about 700 Ukrainian soldiers and more than 1,000 civilians, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday. Ukraine holds about the same number of Russian troops as prisoners and intends to arrange an exchange, but demands the “unconditional” release of civilians, he said. Russia has warned of escalating attacks in Kyiv after accusing Ukraine on Thursday of injuring seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, an area bordering Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed that they hit targets in Russia. Russian Lt. Gen. Vladimir Frolov, whose troops were among those besieging Mariupol, was buried in St. Petersburg on Saturday after he died in battle, Governor Alexander Beglov said. Ukraine has said several Russian generals and dozens of other high-ranking officers have been killed in the war.