They Are Trying To Starve Us To Death But We Wll Not Surrender: Ukrainian MP Of Mariupol Accuses Russia

Russia has asked a port city of Ukraine, Mariupol, to lay down their weapons as a means of gaining safe passage out of the city but the MP, Dmytro Gurin, and around 300,000 people of Mariupol who are believed to be trapped  say otherwise. The city seems to be a strategic target for the Russian military.

Mr Gurin said there was no question of Mariupol surrendering.

“Russians don’t open humanitarian corridors, they don’t let humanitarian convoys enter the city and we clearly see now that the goal of the Russians is to start to [create] hunger [in the city] to enforce their position in the diplomatic process,” Mr. Gurin said.

“If the city does not surrender, and the city will not surrender, they won’t let people out. They won’t let humanitarian convoys into the city.”

As  proposed by Russia, Ukraine had until 05:00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT) to accept, which could have allowed Russian troops to open safe corridors out of Mariupol from 10:00 Moscow time, initially for Ukrainian troops and “foreign mercenaries” to disarm and leave the city.

After two hours, Russian forces say they would then have allowed humanitarian convoys with food, medicine and other supplies to enter the city safely, once the de-mining of the roads was complete.

But the deadline came and went.

Should Russia capture Mariupol, it would help it create a land corridor between the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, controlled by Russian-backed separatists and Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. So far though, Mariupol’s defenders have stood firm.

source: BBC