Russia announced on Tuesday the second phase of its war in Ukraine, focused on the “complete liberation” of pro-Russian Donbass, an operation that includes the final assault on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, the last stronghold of a Ukrainian resistance that Moscow describes as “nationalist battalions” and “foreign mercenaries.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assured that, at this stage of the invasion, his country consider the option of using only conventional weapons and added that the Kremlin does not intend to replace the Ukrainian authorities. The Russian Army carried out dozens of bombings in eastern Ukraine, in a “new phase” of a war that has left thousands dead and that earned President Vladimir Putin the threat of new western sanctions.
The Russian operation advances in the Donbass
“The operation in eastern Ukraine is aimed, as already announced, at the complete liberation of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. This operation will continue, the next phase of this special operation is starting,” he said on Tuesday. Sergei Lavrov. According to the Russian foreign minister, at this stage Russia is considering the option of using only conventional weapons.
In addition, Lavrov assured that Moscow does not intend to remove the current Ukrainian authorities. “We have said many times that we want Ukrainians to decide for themselves how they prefer to live“, he assured.
for Ukraine the great Russian offensive for Donbass started already on Monday, as the regional governor of Luhansk, Serguei Gaidai, and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky announced in the morning. But in the midst of Russian silence, which gives few details of the so-called “special military operation”, Lavrov was the first senior official to confirm by Russia the great offensive just 21 days after the withdrawal of troops from the north and northeast. from Ukraine.
Three weeks to regroup
Russia needed all this time to regroup its forces and send new battalion tactical groups to the Ukrainian east, and also to the south, as well as artillery equipment, air support and command and control systems. “We will defend ourselves. We will fight. We will not hand over anything from Ukraine”said Zelenski, who proposed to the Verkhovna Rada to prolong martial law for a month, until May 25. “I am grateful to all our fighters, to all our heroic cities in Donbass, Mariupol, as well as to the cities of the Kharkov region that are resisting, defending the fate of the whole of Ukraine and repelling the invading forces,” the Ukrainian president warned. .
Meanwhile, the head of the Regional Military Administration, Oleg Siniegubovexpressed: “The intensity of the shelling in Kharkov has increased. Therefore, we ask the residents of the city to stay in the shelters as long as possible and not to go outside unless absolutely necessary.” In the Kharkov region, which has been shelled since the start of the Russian military offensive, at least three people have been killed and 21 others injured in attacks on residential areas, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“Get out of Luhansk!”
The intensification of the bombardments in the Donbass led the Ukrainian authorities to suspend for the third consecutive day the deployment of humanitarian safe corridors. Despite the absence of these roads, local authorities urged civilians to flee the area. “Go away!” said Governor Gaidai, who on Monday pointed to “incessant” fighting in several cities and the loss of the small town of Kreminna, some 50 kilometers from Kramatorsk, the de facto capital of Donbass still under Kyiv’s control. .
In the Luhansk region there are massive attacks and more air strikes than before “across the entire line of defense”said Gaidai. “Go to safe regions of Ukraine. Now you have the opportunity to escape. Every day that passes the chances will be reduced,” the governor urged the inhabitants, after “thousands” of the 20,000 inhabitants of the city of Kreminna failed to flee before the Russians took the city on Monday.
This Tuesday just over a hundred civilians were evacuated from the region of Luganskbut there are still some 70,000 inhabitants who have not done so according to local authorities. There are only two operational hospitals left, in Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, and “it is impossible to count the number of civilians killed” because many bodies are found lying in the streets uncollected by continuous shelling, Gaidai said.
the situation continues to be especially critical in Mariupol, where an undetermined number of soldiers are reportedly holding out at the Azovstal metallurgical plant and at least 1,000 civilians in the plant’s underground shelters, mostly women with children, according to the mayor’s office. The spokesman for the pro-Russian Donetsk militia, Eduard Basurin, said Tuesday that the assault on the factory had begun.
“As far as I know, some assault groups, specially selected for this mission, have already started their work, and the Russian Federation helps us with its aviation and artillery,” Basurin said. The Security Service of Ukraine assured after intercepting a conversation of the Russian Army that it wants to “erase from the face of the earth” the metallurgical plant with “surprises of three tons (of bombs) from the sky.”
A new Russian ultimatum
Before the announced final assault, Russia gave the “nationalist battalions” of the Azov regiment and the alleged mercenaries two hours to surrender, “taking into account the catastrophic situation that has occurred in the metallurgical plant, in addition to being guided by purely humanitarian principles.” All those who lay down their arms “are guaranteed the preservation of life,” said the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, General Mijail Mizintsevwho considered “false information” spread by kyiv that there are civilians in the factory.
On the contrary, Mizintsev recalled that “The forced detention of the civilian population as a ‘human shield’ is terrorism” and its perpetrators in Azovstal are “war criminals and terrorists.” When the time planned by Russia for the defenders to leave the city arrived, Mizintsev unilaterally announced a “cessation of all military action” and the opening of three humanitarian corridors with dozens of buses and ambulances for the departure of the armed groups, which for now They have shown signs of wanting to surrender.