Posted on 04/17/2022 7:43:02 AM PDT by blam
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor over Mariupol, has said Friday that the city of Mariupol has been “wiped off the face of the earth” after weeks of relentless shelling and missile strikes from Russian forces.
“The enemy may seize the land Mariupol used to stand on, but the city of Mariupol has been wiped off the face of the earth by the Russian Federation, by those who will never be able to restore it,” he said. “To restore Mariupol, that is something only Ukraine can do.”
Image: Associated Press
As to the fate of the city, he described that at this point it is “no more” and that in reality the Russians have nothing left to seize. Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that “Russia gave holdout Ukrainian soldiers an ultimatum to lay down arms on Sunday in the pulverised southeastern port of Mariupol, which Moscow said its forces almost completely controlled in what would be its biggest capture of the nearly two-month war.”
All of this comes just after Ukrainian defense ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said that for the first time Russia used long-range bombers to attack Ukrainian positions in the port city.
“On April 14, two Russian strategic heavy bombers Tu-95/-160 have launched cruise missiles hitting the territory of Ukraine from Krasnodar Krai of Russian Federation airspace,” he said. “Also for the first time from the start of the armed aggression bombs were dropped by a long-range bombers Tu-22M3. This airstrike took place, hitting Mariupol.”
Earlier last week Mariupol mayor’s estimated that over 10,000 civilians had died over the course of the war which had seen the city on the Sea of Azov attacked and besieged from nearly the start of the invasion.
#MARIUPOL
Footage shows airstrikes from Tu-22M3 long range strategic bomber targeting the Azovstal factory in which the last remains of Azov are holding themselves up. pic.twitter.com/GC7zTs8cTC
— UkraineMaps (@MapsUkraine) April 15, 2022
He had described that dead bodies “carpeted the streets” – though it was impossible for outside observers to verify the high death estimate given.
The AP had reported, “The mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol said Monday that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city, and that the death toll could surpass 20,000…”
On Sunday Bloomberg reports that Russia could be contemplating a naval landing of forces to overwhelming the final holdout Ukrainian troops in and around the city:
Ukraine warned of a possible Russian naval landing operation at Mariupol in addition to new air strikes. Russia called on remaining forces in the besieged city to surrender. Many are thought to be within the massive Azovstal steelworks; Moscow said “foreign mercenaries” are among them, citing intercepted conversations.
#RUSSIA
Footage from earlier today shows Tu-22M3 long range strategic bomber refueling in-air above Vyazma, Russia. pic.twitter.com/Hdm4AZV93Y
— UkraineMaps (@MapsUkraine) April 15, 2022
Recently United Nations officials warned that the true civilian death toll in the country may never be known, that it’s likely significantly higher than current official estimates.
Really sad to see Joe Bidens War escalate like this. Failed diplomacy... he needed to read Donald Trumps book on how to make a good deal, win/win.
Stolen elections have consequences and we’re looking at a big one.
Lack of diplomacy. Biden (or his handlers) started this war by talking about NATO and Ukraine. That lit the fuse. This stupid war should never have happened. it was predictable. it was stoppable. It was encouraged. The Biden admin. has blood on its hands.
What is Russia GMT +2?
Good thing we have reporters like Patrick Lancaster on the ground in Mariupol. His videos clearly show that this Governor is lying as bodies are not “carpeting the ground.” I highly doubt 10,000 civilians died in Mariupol since the Russians came to the town.
Good thing I never bothered to learn where it was on the map
“Wiped off the face of the earth” huh?
Sent to Pluto?
Yep, it is wanted by what remains of the Neocon/GOPe Establishment. It keeps the Dolts among us occupied and distracted from Demented Joe's catastrophic domestic mess.
FR russian trolls celebrate!
“Russia gave holdout Ukrainian soldiers an ultimatum to lay down arms on Sunday in the pulverised southeastern port of Mariupol”
The Ukrainian reply was to give the Russians the same deadline to evacuate all their troops from Ukraine.
Grenwich Mean Time + 2 hours.
“On April 14, two Russian strategic heavy bombers Tu-95/-160 have launched cruise missiles hitting the territory of Ukraine from Krasnodar Krai of Russian Federation airspace”
It’s telling that even in the East where Russia has almost all of its forces they are still not eager to overfly the region with their air force. Instead launching hits only from safety across the border.
I thought as much.
Thank you for your reply.
It’s understandable knowing Ukraine was given a ton of AA weaponry.
“FR russian trolls celebrate!”
As opposed to you? What do you think we think of you backing Biden and the flaming homosexual puppet Zelensky?
““To restore Mariupol, that is something only Ukraine can do.”
Russia built it originally.
And Odessa too.
“Really sad to see Joe Bidens War escalate like this. Failed diplomacy... he needed to read Donald Trumps book on how to make a good deal, win/win.”
Exactly. We promised Russia and the world that we would not expand NATO after the fall of the USSR, but NATO has since doubled in size and Ukraine was being groomed to join NATO.
Imagine Russia placing nuclear weapons in Cuba, Haiti, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republican, and the Bahamas, and how we might react.
> Instead launching hits only from safety across the border.
If you didn’t have to, why would you?
“it was predictable”
It WAS predicted by 10s of thousands of pros, and millions of educated observers.
And entirely avoidable.
Blame the US and NATO.
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