Fears over Mariupol relief effort as Russia accuses Ukraine Of strike on oil depot
EMERGENCY relief and evacuation convoys for the besieged city of Mariupol remain in doubt after reports of Russian interference, while Moscow officials accused Ukraine of flying helicopter gunships across the border and striking an oil depot.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said the alleged air strike caused multiple fires and two people were injured.
A Kremlin spokesman said the incident on Russia’s territory could undermine negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives that resumed by video link yesterday.
“Certainly, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of the talks,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied when asked if the strike could be viewed as an escalation of the war.
It was not immediately possible to verify the claim that Ukrainian helicopters targeted the oil depot or several nearby businesses in Belgorod.
Russia has reported shelling from Ukraine before, including an incident last week that killed a military chaplain, but not an incursion into its air space.
The latest negotiations follow a meeting of Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Turkey on Tuesday where Ukraine reiterated its willingness to abandon a bid to join Nato and offered proposals to have its neutral military status guaranteed by a range of foreign countries.
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, wrote on social media that Moscow’s positions on retaining control of the Crimean peninsula and expanding the territory in eastern Ukraine held by Russia-backed separatists “are unchanged”.
The International Committee for the Red Cross said complex logistics were still being worked out for the operation to get emergency aid into Mariupol and civilians out of the city, which has suffered weeks of heavy fighting with dwindling water, food and medical supplies.
“We are running out of adjectives to describe the horrors that residents in Mariupol have suffered,” ICRC spokesperson Ewan Watson said during a UN briefing in Geneva.
“The situation is horrendous and deteriorating, and it’s now a humanitarian imperative that people be allowed to leave and aid supplies be allowed in.”
He said the group had sent three vehicles towards Mariupol and a front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces, but two trucks carrying supplies for the city were not accompanying them.
Dozens of buses organised by Ukrainian authorities to take people out had also not started approaching the dividing line, Mr Watson said.
On Thursday, Russian forces blocked a 45-bus convoy attempting to take people out of Mariupol after the military agreed to a limited
ceasefire in the area, and only 631 people were able to leave in private cars, the Ukrainian government said.
Russian forces also seized 14 tons of food and medical supplies trying to reach Mariupol, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands of residents have managed to leave in the past few weeks through humanitarian corridors, reducing the population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 by last week, but continued Russian attacks have repeatedly thwarted aid and evacuation missions.
In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said its “main goal” is gaining complete control of the Donbas, where Mariupol is located.
The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region of eastern Ukraine where Moscowbacked separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014 and have declared two areas as independent republics.