During a telephone interview on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron called Vladimir Putin to “allow the continuation of the evacuations” of the metallurgical complex.
Le Monde with AP, AFP and Reuters
Long announced, the assault of the Russian army and the pre -forces against the immense Azovstal steelworks, the last square kilometers kept by the Ukrainian army in Marioupol, began.
“A powerful assault on the territory of Azovstal is underway, with the support of armored vehicles, tanks and attempts to land troops, with the help of boats and a large number of elements of ‘Infantry, “said Sviatoslav Palamar, assistant commander of the Azov regiment, in a message posted on Telegram.
“We are going to do everything to repel it,” he added, calling, moreover, to “immediate measures to evacuate civilians” always terrified with Ukrainian fighters on this huge metallurgical site of Marioupol, Port strategic of southern Donbass already almost entirely under Russian control. He also specified that intense bombardments had taken place in the night before the assault, killing two women and injuring “about ten civilians”.
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call to evacuate civilians
On the Russian side, Vadim Astafiev, a spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, announced, earlier on Tuesday, that “units of the Russian army and the People’s Republic of Donetsk, using artillery and Airplanes, begin to destroy [the] shooting positions “of Ukrainian fighters from Azovstal.
In a declaration taken up by Russian agencies, Mr. Astafiev accused the Azov regiment of having “used” the ceasefire-declared to evacuate civilians-to get out of the basement of the steelworks and “Take shooting positions in the territory and in the factory buildings”.
A hundred civilians who had been evacuated this weekend of the Azovstal steelworks thanks to an operation carried out with the support of the United Nations (UN) arrived in Zaporijia, 230 kilometers northwest de Marioupol, where they were greeted by representatives of the organization.
For his part, Emmanuel Macron called Vladimir Putin to “allow the continuation of the evacuations” of the metallurgical complex, announced the Elysée after a two -hour phone call between the two leaders. This evacuation must be done “in coordination with humanitarian actors and leaving the choice to the evacuated of their destination, in accordance with international humanitarian law,” said the French presidency.
У Запоріжжя приїхали автобуси з маріупольцями https://t.co/U2jZarR0yw