By John Ikani
Ukraine on Wednesday proposed to hold a “special round” of negotiations with Russia in Mariupol to allow troops and civilians be evacuated from the besieged city.
The city has experienced some of the most devastating bombardments since the war began. A top negotiator said Ukraine was willing to talk with Russia “without any conditions.”
“Yes. Without any conditions. We’re ready to hold a ‘special round of negotiations’ right in Mariupol,” top Ukraine negotiator and presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.
“One on one. Two on two. To save our guys, Azov, military, civilians, children, the living & the wounded. Everyone. Because they are ours. Because they are in my heart. Forever.”
Another key Ukrainian negotiator, David Arakhamia, said on Telegram that he and Podolyak “are ready to arrive in Mariupol to hold talks with the Russian side on the evacuation of our military garrison and civilians”.
A band of Ukrainian resistance and civilians have been holed up in the strategic southern port city, where surrounding Russian forces have launched a devastating shelling campaign targeting civilian areas that include hospitals, theaters, shelters, and schools.
Russia previously ordered Ukraine’s resistance in the city to surrender but Ukrainian troops refused.
As yet another desperate attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol failed Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “the situation in Mariupol is deteriorating” with thousands of troops and civilians stuck in the city.
The strategic port city has been taken over by Russian forces, except for a small pocket of resistance at the Azovstal steel plant.
Earlier this month, the Mayor of Mariupol estimated that more than 10,000 people had died in the city and said the death toll could eventually exceed 20,000.
The city was an early target for Russia given its proximity to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, as well as other parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by Putin loyalists.
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