The southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol has been under fire since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The city was one of the first to be attacked and is now completely surrounded. The situation becomes more and more urgent and yet Mariupol does not give in.
Last night rejected Ukraine yet Russia’s demand to give up the fight for Mariupol. The ultimatum passed without Ukrainian soldiers laying down arms and displaying white flags in return for a “safe exit,” as promised by the Russians.
“Of course Ukraine said ‘no’ to the Russian demand,” Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said. “There can be no question of a surrender, of laying down the arms.”
Symbolic importance
Why is Ukraine so firmly committed to Mariupol? “The city is of strategic importance from a military point of view,” said retired general Mart de Kruif. “Besides Odessa, it is one of the two major ports of Ukraine. In addition, from Mariupol, the Ukrainians are attacking the supply lines of the Russians, which have just been established between Crimea and the Donbas. They pass through Mariupol.”
According to De Kruif, the symbolic significance of the city is also great. “It has been one of the centers of the Cossacks. And in the war in 2014 Mariupol changed hands: it was first occupied by the Russian insurgents and then recaptured.”
The fact that the Russians fought hard at the time and that peace has never really come about since then is one of the reasons that the city will not give up now, De Kruif thinks. “If Mariupol falls, it will be a very big setback for Ukraine.”
Years of struggle with Russia
Mariupol has been embroiled in a battle with Russia since 2014. It started with the change of power as a result of massive pro-Western demonstrations in Kiev’s Majdan Square. Pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych has been impeached. The subsequent elections were won by Petro Poroshenko. Ukraine cautiously took the road to democracy.
That same year, Russia annexed Crimea and began supporting separatists in the east of the country in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
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