Timeline: A look back at Mariupol in ruins as Russia-Ukraine conflict enters 100th day

Record ID: 1675538

  • Title: Timeline: A look back at Mariupol in ruins as Russia-Ukraine conflict enters 100th day
  • Date: 12th April 2022
  • Summary: President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the military to cancel plans to storm the Azovstal plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and said he wanted it to continue to be hermetically blockaded instead. MOSCOW, RUSSIA (RECENT - APRIL 21, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary. I order you to cancel it. This is a case where we must think - I mean we always must think, but in this case more so - about preserving the lives and health of our soldiers and officers. There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot not pass through.”
  • Embargoed: 26th April 2022 02:55
  • Keywords: Azovstal Illich Ilyich Mariupol Russian invasion Ukraine damage defence of Mariupol destroyed evacuation residential buildings steel plant war
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA00J000806042022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES AND PROFANE LANGUAGE. PART AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING FOR SHOT 109.
    Very complex talks are underway to evacuate a large number of wounded soldiers from a besieged steelworks in the strategic southeastern port of Mariupol in return for the release of Russian prisoners of war, Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiysaid late on Friday (May 13).
    Mariupol, which has seen the heaviest fighting in nearly three months of war, is now in Russian hands but hundreds of Ukrainian defenders are still holding out at the Azovstal steelworks despite weeks of heavy Russian bombardment.
    Russia, which initially insisted the defenders in the sprawling Soviet-era bunkers beneath the steel works give themselves up, has said little publicly about the talks.
    Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told local TV on Saturday that efforts were now focused on evacuating about 60 people, comprising the most seriously wounded as well as medical personnel.
    Many of those still in the plant are members of the Azov Regiment.
    Deputy commander Sviatoslav Palamar said his forces would continue to resist as long as they could.
    Fierce Ukrainian resistance, which analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals failed to anticipate when they launched the invasion on February 24, has slowed and in some places reversed Russian advances elsewhere in Ukraine too.
    As well as losing large numbers of men and much military equipment, Russia is also reeling from economic sanctions.
    The Group of Seven (G7) leading Western economies pledged in a statement on Saturday to "further increase economic and political pressure on Russia" and to supply more weapons to Ukraine.
    Moscow's invasion, which it calls a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists, has jolted European security, prompting Finland - which shares a long border with Russia - and most likely Sweden to abandon their long-cherished military neutrality and seek NATO membership.
    (Production: Natasa Bansagi, Kristian Brunse, Nasaybah Hussain, Ben Dangerfield, Paul Warren, Gabriela Boccaccio)
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