New attempts at evacuation and ceasefire Sunday – VG

Just updated

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The Mariupol City Council states that there will be an evacuation of around 400,000 civilians from 12 noon local time, and that there will be a temporary ceasefire in the city from 10 am to 9 pm local time, reports Reuters.

On Saturday, a temporary ceasefire was declared in the city in order to evacuate civilians. Not long after, however, there were reports of violation of the ceasefireand that the evacuation was postponed.

Those who first wanted to flee Mariupol were pushed back to the bomb shelters.

Night to Sunday, the attacks continued in the hard-hit port city.

Reckless artillery attacks are taking place in residential areas, and planes have dropped bombs on residential areas, says the mayor of the city, Vadijm Boishenko to the news agency AP on Sunday night.

On Sunday morning, the Ukrainian military claims that the Ukrainian forces have fought fierce battles to hold on to certain limits, writes The Guardian.

The Ukrainian forces are focusing on defending the city of Mariupol, and also in the city of Chernihiv, forces are in place to defend the city, according to the Ukrainian military.

Representatives from Ukraine and Russia will meet for the third round of negotiations on Monday, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said on his Facebook account, CNN reports.

– Brakes the crank

The British Ministry of Defense states in an intelligence update on Sunday morning Norwegian time that the strength of the Ukrainian defense continues to surprise Russia.

“Russian supply lines reportedly continue to be attacked, which slows down the advance of the ground forces,” the statement said.

It is also likely that Russia will now try to make tankers look like ordinary trucks, to reduce losses, according to the British Ministry of Defense.

Very difficult phase

The artillery attacks have been going on for days in the important port city in southern Ukraine.

The city is under siege, and Mayor Boyshenko tells the AP that the city is in “a very difficult phase” of the siege. The city has been without water and electricity for five days, according to the mayor.

– Russian forces destroy the city and kill Ukrainians. We can not collect all the bodies from the streets. If you ask how many victims we have in this war, the only answer is: I do not know, says Deputy Mayor of Mariupol, Sergei Orlov, to the BBC.

The President of Ukraine gave a speech to the people late Saturday night – and asked everyone to fight against the Russians:

Also in the small town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, civilians have reported that they are not allowed to flee, as a result of the attacks that are still going on in the area.

Great Britain has said that the message of a ceasefire in Ukraine was an attempt by Russia to shift the blame for future civilian deaths to the country.

“Russia’s proposed ceasefire in Mariupol was in all likelihood an attempt to divert international condemnation, while at the same time diverting its forces to a new offensive,” the British Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter.

Here are the fights now

After a day marked by a broken ceasefire and broken hopes of mass evacuation, the war in Ukraine continues until Sunday night. Here are the matches now:

• Russian forces are still trying to surround Kyiv. Several areas around the capital have been hit by heavy fighting and extensive bombing on Saturday, including at Hostomel airport.
• In the east, the cities of Sumy and Kharkiv are said to have been hit by strong artillery fire from the Russian side. At the same time, the Russian military will also try to surround Kharkiv, which is the country’s second largest city.
• British intelligence indicates that Russian forces are trying to reach the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa, where they believe there may be new attacks. The British Ministry of Defense announced earlier on Saturday that the attacks had temporarily slowed down in strength over the past 24 hours.
• On Saturday night, Russian forces bombed the city of Irpin, located on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, northwest of the city.

Pictures from Irpin on Saturday show bombed-out buildings and a large group of people trying to flee the city by crossing a bridge that has fallen as a result of the brutal attacks.

– It’s catastrophic. The bombing of the Russians is total and they are bombing from the air and with missiles. These people are suffering from this. This is completely unacceptable, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told the BBC.