Russia called on Ukrainian forces in the city of Mariupol to lay down their weapons and leave the city on Tuesday through a safe passage, while the United States said it was coordinating with several countries to deliver Kyiv new shipments of weapons.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it was ready to open a safe corridor for Ukrainian forces to leave the besieged port city of Mariupol towards Zaporozhye, starting this morning.
“Whoever lays down his arms and begins to leave, his life will be guaranteed,” added Mikhail Mizntsev, head of the Military Operations Department of the Russian Defense Ministry.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on Turkey to use its influence “to achieve this difficult task.”
The Russian military official added that his country would “make efforts to evacuate civilians and foreign nationals from Mariupol to safety today, Tuesday,” and accused the Ukrainian authorities of preventing people from leaving Mariupol.
In the same context, a senior US Defense Department official said that his country had also detected that Moscow was mobilizing forces north of the city of Mariupol, which is besieged by Russian forces and pro-Moscow separatist forces.
Red Cross
And Reuters news agency quoted International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Jason Strazioso on Monday that a team of the Committee was arrested while trying to reach Mariupol on Monday to evacuate civilians, and is now being held in the town of Manosh, 20 km west of Mariupol.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Irina Vereshchuk, said the Red Cross team was being held by “the occupation authorities”.
Strazioso declined to reveal details of who was holding the team, saying only that it was the police. “This is not a hostage situation,” he added, adding that the International Committee of the Red Cross was talking to all parties to clarify the situation and to seek the team’s release.
The Red Cross team is trying to reach the besieged city of Mariupol and evacuate some of its residents, who are suffering from an acute shortage of basic supplies. This is the team’s fourth attempt since Friday.
The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister stated on Monday that 2,405 civilians were evacuated from the cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk, who arrived in Zaporozhye through 7 humanitarian corridors by their own vehicles in the past 24 hours.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its forces destroyed the headquarters of the 24th Armored Brigade of the Ukrainian army, and weapons depots near the city of Lyschansk in Lugansk region, eastern Ukraine.
On the other hand, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced that his country’s forces destroyed the headquarters of the 24th Armored Brigade of the Ukrainian army, and weapons depots near the city of Lyschansk in Lugansk region, eastern Ukraine.
The military spokesman added that the Russian air defense systems shot down 6 drones in the regions of Mykolaiv, Kherson, Korakhivka, Velika Novosilka, and Russian warplanes bombed 17 Ukrainian military sites during the past 24 hours.
weapons shipments
In the United States, a senior official in the Ministry of Defense (Pentagon) said that Washington coordinated during the past 24 hours with 6 countries to deliver new arms shipments to Ukraine.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a press statement on Monday that the administration of President Joe Biden will announce new military assistance to Ukraine in the coming days.
Sullivan explained that Washington is working with its allies to provide Kyiv with long-range anti-aircraft systems, artillery systems, and coastal defense systems.
And the US agency Bloomberg quoted sources as saying that the US Department of Defense plans to send 10 “Switchblade” drones equipped with anti-tank warheads to Ukraine.
It is noteworthy that since last February 24, Russia has launched what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine with the aim of disarming it and ensuring that Kyiv does not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after which Western countries imposed severe economic and financial sanctions on Moscow.
