Ukrainian marines in Mariupol city said they are “holding out to the end” despite being surrounded by Russian forces and exhausting their supplies.
“We are the defenders of Mariupol, the 36th Marine Brigade, which maintains the defense of this city to the end,” said one of the marines in a video posted on Facebook.
“We don't abandon our positions. We kept every inch of this city as best we could. But the reality is that the city is under siege, in a ring. There has been no supply of ammunition or food. We have held out until the end. We are grateful to all Ukrainians who believed and continue to believe in the Marines. We have held on to this faith for a long time. We haven't abandoned our positions. We have always remained faithful,” they said in the video.
An independent analysis published on Sunday of the situation in Mariupol by the Institute for the Study of War assessed that Mariupol's defense had reached a critical stage.
“Russian forces divided Mariupol into two parts, from the city center to the coast, on April 10, isolating the remaining Ukrainian defenders into two main locations: the main port of Mariupol, in the southwest, and the Azovstal steel plant in the east,” the analysis notes, according to CNN.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky, said that “tens of thousands” of people have died in Mariupol.
Investigation of possible use of chemical weapons in Mariupol by Russian troops
The Azov Battalion, a far-right group under the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, accused Russian troops on Monday of using chemical weapons during an attack on the port city of Mariupol.
Around the same time, the president of the Parliamentary Commission for Integration of Ukraine into the EU, Ivanna Klympush, said on Monday Russian troops used “an unknown substance in Mariupol. The victims experienced respiratory failure. Most likely, these are chemical weapons. This is the red line beyond which the world must destroy the economy of despotism.”
After this information was released, the Western powers expressed concern and announced that they will investigate whether Vladimir Putin's forces actually used such an arsenal.
“The Russian occupying forces have used a poisonous substance of unknown origin against Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in the city of Mariupol, which was launched from an enemy drone,” the far-right military group denounced, according to Ukrainian agency UNIAN.
The regiment also reported that the victims would have respiratory failure, dizziness, vomiting and apparently problems with the nervous system, as reported by The Kyiv Independent.
After the first reports, the Pentagon also spoke about this alleged chemical weapons attack: “We are aware of reports that Russian forces deployed a possible chemical ammunition in Mariupol, Ukraine. We cannot confirm this at this time and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
“These reports, if true, are very worrying and reflect the concerns we have had about the possibility of Russia using various anti-riot agents, including tear gas mixed with chemicals, in Ukraine,” the Pentagon added in a brief statement.
“It is reported that Russian forces could have used chemical agents in an attack on the population of Mariupol. We are working urgently with our partners to verify the details. Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime accountable,” British Foreign Minister Liz Truss added on her social media.
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