Surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for weeks and the focus of some of the fiercest fighting in the war, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. RussiaUkraineCrisis
More than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the port of Mariupol, Russia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday, April 13, signaling that it had moved closer to capturing the ruined city, its main strategic target in eastern Ukraine.
forces and Donetsk People’s Republic militia units, 1,026 Ukrainian soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade voluntarily laid down arms and surrendered,” the ministry said in a statement. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol and Russia has been massing thousands of troops in the area for a new assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
“Within Azovstal at the moment there are about 200 wounded who cannot receive any medical assistance,” Kadyrov said in a Telegram post. “For them and all the rest it would be better to end this pointless resistance and go home to their families.” US President Joe Biden said for the first time that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine amounted to genocide, a term denounced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.