On Wednesday, April 20, the defenders of the besieged city of Mariupol are trying to free around 300 people trapped under rubble after Russian occupation forces dropped bombs on the Azovstal metallurgy compound. On the 500-kilometre Donbas front, Ukrainian troops stated they repelled enemy attacks and destroyed many tanks Ukrainian public broadcaster Ukrinform, British public broadcaster BBC and Belarusian Nexta TV report.
In the Azovstal metallurgy compound, the last bastion of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, which has been under siege for 50 days now, Russian aviation dropped bombs, according to Ukrainian MP Serhiy Taruta, who pointed to the bombing of a makeshift hospital there.
The Azov Regiment, which defends the city, confirmed this. «It was our makeshift hospital … Heavy bombs are being dropped on the Azovstal steelworks, and now a lot of people are under the rubble … Azovstal was bombed and destroyed almost completely. We are pulling people from the rubble,» Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment Sviatoslav Palamar said to Radio Liberty.
The defence reporter of The Kyiv Independent wrote this on Twitter:
The final frontier.The Mariupol garrison is now confined to the city’s main fortress, the Azovstal industrial complex.It’s a giant and very complicated maze of steel and concrete, with lots of fortified underground shelters.It will be very hard to get. pic.twitter.com/MiPpT3eWvZ
— Illia Ponomarenko ?? (@IAPonomarenko) April 19, 2022
In a video sent to the BBC and other media, Ukrainian marine commander in Mariupol, Major Serhiy Volyna stated that his troops would not surrender, but he pleaded for international assistance for the 500 wounded soldiers and hundreds of women and children he said were hiding with them at a steel plant in the city.
«This is our last address to the world. It may be our last one ever. It is possible that we have just days or hours left,» Major Volyna explained.
On Wednesday morning, Kyiv reported of a preliminary agreement with Russia for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate women, children and the elderly from Mariupol. Ukraine hoped to send 90 buses to the Azov Sea port city on Wednesday to evacuate about 6,000 women, children and elderly people, the city’s mayor Vadym Boichenko stated on national television. He added that around 100,000 civilians remain in Mariupol and tens of thousands have been killed in the Russian siege of the city.
Military situation during Donbas offensive
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote in its report on the military developments in and around Ukraine over the past 24 hours that Russian troops were regrouping in order to continue their offensive toward the town of Lyman in the Donetsk region.
«The enemy is trying to continue their offensive operations in the eastern operational zone in order to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They continue to launch missile and bomb strikes on the military and civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine,» the General Staff wrote.
In the Izium direction, Kharkiv Region, the invaders attempted to launch an assault towards the villages of Sulyhivka and Dibrivne. In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukrainian defenders repelled ten attacks by Russian forces, destroying 12 tanks, one artillery system, 28 armoured vehicles and two vehicles.
The Ukrainian Air Forces announced having hit nine air targets of the enemy in the past day, including an aircraft, a helicopter, six drones of various types and a cruise missile.
Zelensky speaks of much needed weapons
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that «the situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible». As to weapons’ supplies he voiced the belief that if Ukraine had access to better weapons, «we would have ended this war».
Watch Zelenskyy’s latest address with English subtitles.