On Wednesday, April 20, Kyiv continued efforts to hold peace talks in Mariupol, where civilians and Ukrainian troops are besieged in the Azovstal metallurgy complex to evacuate them. The UN has called for the two warring countries to have a truce in fighting for the Orthodox Christian Easter week, but Russia has not agreed. In the Kherson Region, invaders are allegedly organising forced mobilisation of the local population, Ukrainian public broadcaster Ukrinform, British public broadcaster BBC and Belarusian Nexta TV report.
In the destroyed Azov Sea port city of Mariupol, evacuation took place on Wednesday, April 20. Four evacuation buses departed from Mariupol through the humanitarian corridor on Wednesday, while 90 bus trips were planned. The evacuation is expected to continue on Thursday, April 21, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk.
«Speaking of Mariupol: Four evacuation buses managed to leave the city yesterday through the humanitarian corridor. They remained overnight in Berdiansk and are now heading to Vasylivka. We expect them to arrive in Zaporizhia soon,» Vereshchuk wrote.
The minister added that the evacuation of women, children, and the elderly from Mariupol would continue Thursday, April 21.
As to the idea of holding talks in the city David Arakhamia, the head of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation, says he and Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the President’s Office and a member of the delegation, are ready to leave for Mariupol for talks as soon as they receive confirmation from Russia.
«Mykhailo Podoliak and I are ready to arrive in Mariupol to hold talks with the Russian side on the evacuation of our military garrison and civilians,» Arakhamia stated on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
Azov Regiment Deputy Commander Captain Sviatoslav Palamar has said that the command centre of Mariupol defenders had talked to David Arakhamia and Mykhailo Podoliak on April 20, who expressed readiness to come to Mariupol in order to hold talks with Russia’s representatives, Vladimir Medinsky and Leonid Slutsky, about the evacuation of the military post. Russian ultimatums for the defenders of the city to surrender have been rejected.
UN call for ceasefire not accepted by Russia
UN Secretary General António Guterres called on the warring sides and the international community earlier this week to make a pause in the war.
pic.twitter.com/drEWHcExnl
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 19, 2022
Russia has rejected the call at the UN and said that the ceasefire would help the Ukrainian side to regroup.
Forced mobilization in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia
Ukrainian intelligence claimed that Russian president Vladimir Putin plans to carry out forced mobilization in the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
«Pseudo-referendums in the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions are aimed at declaring forced ‘mobilization’. After it is completed, Russia’s Federal Security Bureau plans to throw the ‘mobilized’ Ukrainians to the hottest spots of the front to storm the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the control of barrage detachments. In fact, this is an attempt to destroy Ukraine at the hands of Ukrainians themselves,» the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posted on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
The Chief Directorate of Intelligence notes that personal data of residents of the temporarily occupied territories are collected allegedly for residents to receive «humanitarian aid» or social benefits. In reality, the data will be used at «referendums». On the day of the «vote», FSB officers will fill out ballots using the information obtained without the consent and physical presence of the Ukrainians themselves.
According to the Ukrainian intelligence, this special operation pursues the following goals: eliminating members of the Ukrainian ethnic group; conducting propaganda activities to impose on the population of Russia and the world the myth that «the population of the regions liberated from the Nazis began to fight against nationalist battalions.”
«It is another crime of the Putin regime against Ukraine and proof of the genocide against the Ukrainian nation,» the Chief Directorate of Intelligence claimed.
Zelenskyy meets with head of European Council
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with EU’s European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday in Kyiv. Michel said the European Commission would publish an opinion on granting Ukraine the EU candidate status by the end of June, and then it will be put on the agenda of the European Council.
Here is the latest video address by Zelenskyy with English subtitles.