MOSCOW (Realist English). Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin on the situation in Mariupol.
Realist English publishes the text of the report of the Head of the Defense Ministry:
“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the forces of the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic liberated Mariupol. The remnants of the nationalist formations took refuge in the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant.
Mariupol is a major industrial and transport hub on the Sea of Azov. In 2014, the Kiev regime declared the city to be the de facto temporary capital of the Donetsk region, turning it into a powerful fortified area and a refuge for radical Ukrainian nationalists in eight years. This is actually the capital of “Azov” — the Azov battalion.
A large number of heavy weapons, military equipment, including tanks, MLRS “Smerch”, “Hurricane”, high-power artillery systems, “Tochka-U” missile systems have been pulled into the city. “Tochka-U” has a range of 120 kilometers, and our Taganrog is 94 kilometers from Mariupol; the capital of the Southern Federal District Rostov is approximately at this distance.
Stocks of missiles, ammunition, fuel and lubricants, food for long-term warfare have been created. The main objects of urban infrastructure, including the seaport and fairways, have been mined and not only mined, but also blocked by floating cranes. The vessels that were there were mostly foreign vessels.
In total, if we talk about armored vehicles — tanks, armored fighting vehicles, there were 179 of them, as well as 170 different guns and mortars, including multiple rocket launchers, I have already mentioned them – “Tornadoes” and “Hurricanes”. At the time of the encirclement on March 11, the total number of the AFU group and nationalist formations, as well as foreign mercenaries, which were also plenty, amounted to more than 8,100 people. During the liberation of the city, more than four thousand have been destroyed, 1,478 surrendered, the remaining group — more than two thousand — have been blocked in the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant.
Resisting, the nationalists turned almost all residential buildings into long-term firing points. Armored vehicles and artillery were installed on the ground floors, and snipers were installed on the upper floors. Separate detachments have been equipped with anti-tank missiles. On the middle floors and in the basements, all residents were gathered, turning them into a human shield. They were kept both on the middle floors and in the basements. And this actually in every house.
Retreating, the Ukrainian army, nationalist battalions in Mariupol, as in other Ukrainian cities, have been covering themselves by the civilian population. Here we have a lot of cases when, retreating to hide their departure, in any case, we have recorded four such cases, covering their departure, they drove people out of the basements. This was, by the way, literally four days ago, when the port area was being liberated and they practically drove everyone out of the skyscrapers into the streets in order to hide themselves, leaving behind continuous destruction, including socially significant, cultural objects.
Liberating Mariupol, the Russian army and the People’s militia units of the DPR took all measures to preserve the lives of civilians. Here, on your instructions, Vladimir Vladimirovich, humanitarian corridors have been opened daily since March 21 for the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens.
Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and militants of nationalist battalions were asked to lay down their arms. They were guaranteed, of course, life, safety and medical care.
According to the planned humanitarian actions — I call them “actions”, they combined corridors and the supply of transport, these were ambulances and buses, we had days when there were up to 100 such buses, and 25-30 ambulances each – we were notified daily and were in contact with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Ukraine [Irina] Vereshchuk.
The diplomatic missions of foreign states that applied in one way or another, because [their] citizens were there – by the way, many were released and taken out of Mariupol during these humanitarian actions — the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, OSCE specialized structures, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations organizations, they were officially notified about the time and place. And, of course, at some point we even demanded their presence, in order, of course, to comply with all humanitarian rules in this part, as far as possible with the constant, continuous conduct and incessant firing just from Mariupol by the nationalist batalions and the armed forces of the Ukraine.
Despite their opposition — both militants and everyone else — we managed to evacuate 142711 civilians from Mariupol after your instruction. All hostages who were in the commercial seaport have been released, including the crews of the sea vessels, where those who had seized them destroyed all communication systems so that they could not contact anyone. The port was mined. The sea area was blocked. I hope that now they will have the opportunity to leave this port.
As of today, the whole of Mariupol is under the control of the Russian army, the People’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and the territory of the Azovstal plant with the remnants of nationalists and foreign mercenaries is securely blocked.
Over the past two days, again on your instructions, we have been declaring a silence regime from 14:00 to 16:00 hours, all hostilities have been stopped completely, and humanitarian corridors have been opened for civilians who may have been on the territory of the Azovstal plant.
We have prepared about 90 buses and 25 ambulances for them. Naturally, bearing in mind that all this is constantly distorted, we installed video conference cameras, and there was almost a live broadcast here, to our control center. No one came out of Azovstal. But other civilians, more than 100 people, were able to leave. During these days, this is probably a lot of work that we have done with all international organizations.
Currently, the situation in the city is calm, allowing us to begin restoring order, returning the population and establishing a peaceful life. As for those who are hiding at the Azovstal plant and are blocked there thoroughly and around the perimeter, it will take us about three to four days to complete this work at Azovstal.
On April 20, the Armed Forces of Russia, exclusively for humane purposes, from 14:00 hours (Moscow time), opened a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol, who, according to the statements of the Ukrainian side, are allegedly present there, and also offered the servicemen of the Armed Forces, militants of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries to lay down their arms and voluntarily surrender to captivity.
The declared humanitarian operation was cynically disrupted by the Kiev authorities, no one used the specified corridor. The Nazi battalion commanders did not use yet another opportunity to save themselves and the lives of their subordinates.
At the same time, the Kiev authorities ignored the Russian initiatives, showed an inhumane attitude towards Ukrainian servicemen and did not give them the only correct order — to stop senseless resistance and lay down their arms.
To all those who voluntarily laid down their weapons the Russian leadership guaranteed the preservation of their lives, complete safety and the provision of qualified medical care.
