It is not the gun threat that worries Ukrainians in the east, but that the forces defending the city of Mariupol say today is their last stop, says ITV News correspondent Peter Smith in Kyiv.
The besieged and strategic port of Mariupol is expected to fall into Russian hands within the next 24 hours and that Monday will be the “last stop”, Ukrainian forces said.
The 36th Marine Corps, which has been defending Mariupol for Ukraine for the past six weeks, has announced that it has run out of ammunition and is under siege, according to ITV News correspondent Peter Smith.
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It said in a statement that it had resorted to sending cooks and members of the orchestra to fight because they had run out of infantry.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said “tens of thousands” have been killed in the besieged city, as he appeals to South Korean lawmakers for weapons ahead of another Russian attack in the east of the country.
In a video speech, the president said: “The occupiers have amassed tens of thousands of soldiers and a huge amount of equipment to try to strike again.
“The worst situation is in Mariupol, in our southern port, which has been blocked by Russian troops since March 1. It was a city of half a million. Half a million people …
President Zelenskyy urges South Korean lawmakers to procure weapons to defend eastern Ukraine Credit: AP
“They tried to take it in the most brutal way – just to destroy everything in the city. Mariupol has been destroyed. There are tens of thousands dead. But even so, the Russians do not stop the attack. They want to make Mariupol a city. ostentatiously damaged “.
Officials have been warning for weeks that the humanitarian situation in the besieged city is deteriorating and that it has been cut off from the rest of Ukraine, with food, medicine and water unable to get in and out of the city, while residents are struggling to survive without electricity. . .
Oleg, 56, mourns the death of 86-year-old Inna’s mother in Bucha Credit: AP
Regular attempts to evacuate the city have failed, with Ukraine accusing Russia of firing on refugees. Moscow has also been charged with war crimes in the city.
Meanwhile, in its latest update on the situation, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) warned that Russian troops could use phosphorus in their attempt to seize Mariupol.
“Russian forces previously used phosphorus munitions in the Donetsk region, increasing their chances of future employment in Mariupol as fighting for the city intensifies,” he tweeted.
White phosphorus burns at extremely high temperatures and is often used to illuminate conflict zones or to cover them with smoke. It can cause horrible burns, respiratory damage, infection, shock and organ failure, according to Human Rights Watch.
Three weeks ago, ITV News filmed Russians dropping what some experts believed could be white phosphorus bombs on Irpin, a city on the outskirts of the capital, Kiev.
The Ministry of Defense continued that in recent days: “Russian bombardment continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with Ukrainian forces repelling several attacks resulting in the destruction of Russian tanks, vehicles and artillery equipment.
“Russia’s continued dependence on unguided bombs reduces its ability to discriminate when aiming and striking, and significantly increases the risk of further civilian casualties.”
In his overnight speech, President Zelenskyy warned that Russian troops were likely to intensify their offensive in eastern Ukraine in the coming days and that next week would be as critical as any other in the war, as he urged Western leaders to do more.
“Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our country,” Zelensky said, accusing Russia of trying to avoid responsibility for war crimes.
“When people do not have the courage to admit their mistakes, apologize, adjust to reality and learn, they turn into monsters. And when people ignore it, the monsters decide that it’s the world that needs to adapt to them. “Ukraine will stop all this,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian authorities have blamed Russian forces for war crimes against civilians, including airstrikes on hospitals, a rocket attack that killed at least 57 people at a train station on Friday, and at least 67 bodies were found in a mass grave near a church in Bucha.
ITV News has also heard stories of Ukrainian civilians and detainees being killed by Russian soldiers retreating from occupied towns and villages, with one woman recalling seeing her nephew shot dead while he had his hands up.
ITV news team Peter Smith, Mike Field, John Angier and Kseniia Kozhushko film in war-torn villages, where they hear stories of Russian troops shooting at civilians, including young boys
This video contains sad imagesBrightcove video playback
Mr Zelenskyy’s calls for renewed Western support came as the World Bank said Ukraine’s economy would shrink by more than 45% this year as Russia invaded, shutting down half of the country’s businesses, and choked imports. and exports and has damaged a huge volume of vital infrastructure.
He added that unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to the war were plunging Russia into a deep recession and would destroy more than a tenth of its economy by 2022.
“No action, no resolution passed and no obvious and clear punishment from Russia,” said ITV News correspondent Robert Moore in response to the UN war in Ukraine.
As the war shifts south and east, President Zelensky called on Western nations to provide arms, especially to President Joe Biden, and said Ukraine’s fate depended on whether the United States would help deal with the rise in Russian weapons.
“To be honest, whether we can (survive) depends on that,” Zelensky said in an interview with 60 Minutes aired Sunday night, speaking through a translator.
“Unfortunately, I’m not sure we will get everything we need.”
Zelensky said he was grateful to Biden for US military assistance to date, but added that “a long time ago” he had sent a list of specific items that Ukraine desperately needed.
The comments came after the Russian military said Monday it had destroyed a cargo missile launcher – supplied by an unspecified European country – on the southern outskirts of the city of Dnipro.
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Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers are meeting to weigh in on the effectiveness of the bloc’s response to the Russian invasion, as concerns grow over Moscow’s preparations for a major offensive in the east.
The ministers will hold talks with the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court, Karim AA Kan, as Western pressure mounts to hold those responsible for any war crimes in Ukraine accountable.
Austrian Chancellor Carl Nehammer had “direct, open and tough” talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday – the first EU leader to meet him since the start of the war.
A spokesman for Mr Nehammer confirmed that the meeting took place at Putin’s official residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow, with talks lasting about 90 minutes.
The Australian leader, who has expressed solidarity with Ukraine over the invasion, said his most important message to the Russian leader was that the fighting should end as “in a war there are only losers on both sides”.
Experts say the next phase of the battle could begin with a full-scale offensive, the outcome of which could determine the course of the conflict, which has leveled cities, killed untold thousands and isolated Moscow economically and politically.
The Russian military is preparing to focus on expanding control of eastern Ukraine.
Western officials have warned that Putin could double or triple the number of Russian troops in Donbas, a predominantly Russian-speaking, industrial area in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbass region since 2014 and have declared some territories there independently.
“I would imagine that, according to external estimates, what you are looking at is a force that is probably the Russians who want to double or even triple the amount of force they exercise in the Donbas area,” an official said.
“But I would like to note that it will take some time for them to reach that number.
“And even when they reach that number, there is a question about how effectively they can bring these forces into battle.”
There are indications that the Russian leader wants to occupy the region before May 9 – when Russia usually marks the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II against Nazi Germany with military parades in Moscow.
New Maxar satellite images released on Friday showed an eight-mile (13-kilometer) convoy of military vehicles heading south to the Donbas region via the Ukrainian city of Velykyi Burluk. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, its troops have bombed the government. occupies territory. The impending attack to the east and south could end up cutting off a vast expanse of land from Ukraine.
