Mariupol
Azov demands: “15 civilians for a ton of food and medicine”
The Azov Battalion’s latest “proposal” for the “evacuation” of civilians is that they are willing to exchange 15 civilians for a ton of food and medicine.
Translated excerpt:
Since the Azov battalion let the first (and so far only) group of about a hundred civilians out of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol on Sunday, further offers from the Russian side to let civilians out of the steelworks via humanitarian corridors have gone unheeded. Civilians who escaped from the steel mill on Sunday have confirmed to the international press that they were being held there against their will by Azov militants. Der Spiegel, for example (Beim Lügen erwischt: Welt und Spiegel verändern (heimlich) ihre Artikel — Anti-Spiegel), brazenly lied about it and, against its better knowledge, completely misrepresented the statements by the witnesses.
Since the civilians who escaped also said that there were several hundred other civilians in the catacombs under the steelworks who were not being let out, it is clear that the Russians were right in their accusations against the Azov fighters: they were holding the civilians hostage and as human shields. That became more than clear afterwards, because since the first civilians came out a few days ago, the Russian army has opened humanitarian corridors every day, but no one has come out.
Now the Azov fighters have finally dropped their masks and made a new “proposal” to the Russian army: they are ready to let the civilians go, but only in exchange for food and medicine. They even named a “price” for the people: 15 civilians in exchange for a ton of food and medicine.
This is not Russian propaganda, by the way, because no denial came from Kyiv or from Azov after the Russian army reported it. Why deny? In Kyiv, one can rely on the Western media not to mention this.
Russia has not yet rejected the “proposal” and has not agreed to it either. The comments in Russia speak instead of “methods used by terrorists” and of “hostage-taking” and “human trafficking”.
Unlike Western media, Russian TV reported this news on the evening news in a report I translated on the current situation in Mariupol.
https://www.vesti.ru/article/2725703
Start of translation:
The Russian military reopened a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol today. It will remain open both tomorrow and Saturday to allow civilians to leave the Azovstal plant and nationalists to lay down their arms and surrender. But the militants responded with a new, this time particularly cynical, offer: the exchange of civilians for food. They even made a price offer: 15 people for a ton of food and medicine. The Kremlin has already pointed out that such demands are usually made by terrorists. A report from Mariupol.
The captain on the bridge stares out to sea through the glass pane shattered by Ukrainian shrapnel. His Tsarevna, as the dry cargo ship is called, has not been able to leave the berth for three months. The port of Mariupol does not let the sailors go.
“On February 21 they came into the port and on February 24 at 10 a.m. the port was closed. The other ships were evacuated because one burned down and the other, the Lady Augusta, has technical problems. We are waiting for the blue corridor to open and we can set sail,” says Pavel Pavlov, captain of the ship Tsarevna.
But now it is simply impossible to sail — the Ukrainian nationalists, who have made what was once the largest port on the Sea of Azov their fortress, have hidden behind the crews as if behind human shields. (Russian translator’s note: During one of my trips to the conflict zone, I met crew members of one of the ships, since after their liberation they stayed in the same hotel as us journalists, during which time I spoke with them at length.)
When the nationalists withdrew from their positions in the port of Mariupol, they blocked the fairway with a sunken ship. Leaving the port is now impossible. In addition, the militants of the Kiev regime laid nine sea mines in the port, which are now chaotically moving somewhere in the area waters.
Specialists from the DNR [Donetsk People’s Republic] Ministry of Emergency Situations are working on clearing the port and have already been able to defuse several anti-ship mines. The reconstruction of the port infrastructure has also begun. According to the authorities of the republic, the first cargo ship is expected to leave Mariupol at the end of May.
Today the artillery cannonade over the city’s industrial area has subsided. After the coalition forces of Russia and the Donetsk People’s Republic unilaterally ceased fire, they again opened a humanitarian corridor for the civilians staying at the Azovstal complex. It will remain open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. until May 7 inclusive. The Azov nationalists, who continue to hold civilians there without giving them any information about the possibility of leaving the plant, are now safely blocked in the remains of the steel mill.
“We were intimidated: ‘You’re not going out here. Then you will be shot.’ They put it this way: Nobody is holding you, but there is no guarantee that you will get out,” people said.
Thanks to the efforts of the Russian military, more than a hundred people were able to leave Azovstal on April 30 and May 1. However, immediately after this, the Azov fighters again went into firing position and tried to break through in small groups. This was followed by massive artillery attacks on the positions of the nationalists.
And now the Russian side is again declaring a ceasefire. Today, however, the humanitarian corridors are empty. At the same time, the Azov militants have stated that they do not intend to release more civilians and have set conditions: Hostages in exchange for food and medicine. They even set their own exchange rate: 15 people for a ton of food and medicine. This is how terrorists usually negotiate, like they did for example in Syria. However, the similarity between the methods of the Middle Eastern radicals and the neo-Nazis in Ukraine does not end there. The fighters of the Kiev regime also prefer to fight the civilian population than the Russian armed forces and continue to shell civilian targets in the cities of Donbass on a daily basis.
“The kids don’t go out because they’re scared. You don’t know what could come from above at any moment. They sleep in the basement or under the bed,” says this woman.
Since the end of February, attacks by Ukrainian armed forces and nationalists have already killed a hundred civilians in the DNR and wounded five times as many.