Russia announces ceasefire in Mariupol

According to its Defense Ministry, Russia wants to allow humanitarian corridors for the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha. After another night of war, Ukraine is preparing for a new round of negotiations with Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry has ordered a ceasefire in Mariupol and Volnovakha in eastern Ukraine to allow civilians to be evacuated from the cities besieged by Russian forces. Russian forces should stop firing in the morning, reports the Russian agency Interfax, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense. Then the humanitarian corridors are to be opened to civilians for five hours. “The humanitarian corridors and routes out have been agreed with the Ukrainian side,” the ministry said in Moscow.

The port city of Mariupol, with half a million inhabitants, and the small town of Wolnowacha, with around 20,000 inhabitants, have been under military pressure from the advancing Russian army for days.

Port of Mariupol under “blockade”

The mayor of Mariupol, Wadym Boitschenko, had expressed the hope on Saturday night that a humanitarian corridor would soon be set up from the city with 440,000 inhabitants and that a ceasefire would be declared for it. This should bring groceries and medicines into the city and repair important infrastructure. The mayor had spoken of a “blockade” of the port. For five days, Boitschenko continued, the city had been suffering from “relentless attacks” from the Russian side. Residents previously said they had virtually no water, electricity or gas. While solving humanitarian problems and looking for all ways “to get Mariupol out of the blockade”, the security forces stand as a “reliable shield” on the outskirts, according to Boichenko. They would not have let the “invaders” into the city even on the ninth day of the war.

Encirclement of Kyiv and Kharkiv

According to the Ukrainian army, Russian troops have continued their offensive with air support and the use of high-precision weapons. The Russian side is trying to encircle the capital Kyiv and the metropolis Kharkiv, according to a report published by the Ukrainian army on Saturday night. In the east, she wants to create a land corridor from the Luhansk and Donetsk separatist regions to the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula create separatist areas.

The Ukrainian armed forces continue to emphasize that attacks will be repelled and opponents will be defeated. The account cannot be independently verified, nor can Russian information. The Russian agency Tass reported that the Ukrainian army had shelled two settlements in the self-declared People’s Republic of Luhansk three times within 24 hours. Details on possible victims or damage are not yet available.

reporting stopped

Reliable information about the war is likely to become even more sparse. Because in response to a new media law in Russia, several international broadcasters and agencies are now partially or completely ceasing their work in Russia, including CNN, the BBC, the Canadian broadcaster CBC and Bloomberg. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed several laws on Friday evening, according to which “false information” about the Russian armed forces could be imprisoned.

Third round of ceasefire negotiations

A good week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both sides are planning another round of negotiations over the weekend. The announced third round of negotiations on a ceasefire will probably take place in Belarus again. An exact date was not initially given. The Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the TASS agency, that Moscow is concerned with security guarantees. He hopes that Ukraine will accept the Russian demands during the negotiations. Among other things, Putin has set the goal of deposing the Ukrainian leadership.