A Red Cross team attempting to establish evacuation efforts in Mariupol on Friday failed to reach the besieged city while Ukraine and Russia resumed talks to end the war.
The Red Cross team of three cars carrying nine staff members was to lead a convoy of about 54 Ukrainian buses and several private vehicles out of the city, said an International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson.
Meanwhile, the two warring nations met by video link to hammer out a peace deal to bring the war, which began on Feb. 24, to an end.
Here’s a round-up of what’s happening on Friday.
Red Cross to resume Mariupol evacuation attempts Saturday
The Red Cross said its team was forced to return to the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia after “arrangements and conditions made it impossible to proceed.”
“For the operation to succeed, it is critical that the parties respect the agreements and provide the necessary conditions and security guarantees,” it said in a statement, adding it would try again on Saturday.
Maxar satellite imagery shows before and after photos published on March 29 of a residential area in Mariupol damaged in ongoing fighting. – Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies
Earlier this week, Mariupol’s mayor said roughly 170,000 residents were trapped there with no power and limited supplies. The city, which had a population of roughly 400,000 before the war started, has been a strategic focus of Russia and has suffered near-constant bombardment.
Previous efforts to deliver aid to Mariupol and evacuate civilians have failed, with both sides blaming each other.
Mariupol authorities lay blame on Russia for efforts failing
Authorities in Mariupol said humanitarian efforts in the besieged city were “not being carried out,” citing Russian interference as the reason why.
In a televised address, Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said humanitarian deliveries didn’t reach Mariupol.
“Humanitarian deliveries, despite all the agreements and promises of the Russian side, are not being carried out,” he said. “The humanitarian corridor … is essentially not operational.”
Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the city’s mayor, said on the messaging app Telegram he didn’t see “a real desire from the Russians … to provide an opportunity for Mariupol residents to evacuate to territory controlled by Ukraine.”
Russian officials on Friday allowed 42 buses with Mariupol residents to depart from the neighbouring occupied city of Berdyansk, which Mariupol residents were able to reach on their own.
Russia’s barrage has caused at least $10 billion in damage to infrastructure, according to a preliminary estimate by Mariupol authorities.
Ukraine, Russia sit down for virtual peace talks
Ukraine and Russia resumed peace talks, but in an online format, Ukraine’s presidential office said, referencing key negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak. It did not provide further details.
Delegations from the two countries held talks in Turkey on Tuesday, after which Podolyak said he felt optimistic.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow was preparing its response to Ukraine’s proposals at Tuesday’s talks.
On Tuesday in Istanbul, the Ukrainian delegation proposed the country would declare itself neutral — dropping its bid to join NATO, as Moscow has long demanded — in return for security guarantees from a group of other nations, potentially including Canada.
Fuel depot strike doesn’t help talks, Russia says
Russia pointed its finger at Ukraine as being responsible for attacking a fuel depot in Russia earlier in the day. Ukraine’s top security official denied those accusations later on national television.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region accused Ukraine of flying helicopter gunships into Russian territory targeting the fuel depot, in what, if confirmed, would be the first attack of its kind. It was not immediately possible to verify the report.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was briefed about the incident, and added the strike could jeopardize the peace talks.
“Of course, this cannot be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for continuing the talks,” Peskov said, adding that everything was being done to prevent disruptions in fuel supplies in the city.
Ukraine pushing Russian forces back in Kyiv, Chernihiv regions
Ukraine has retaken control over 29 settlements in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, where Russia has pulled back some of its troops, Ukraine’s general staff said.
The Russian military in the northeast continues to block and shell Chernihiv and Kharkiv, the general staff added.
In the country’s southeast, the Russians are trying to seize the cities of Popasna, Rubizhne and Mariupol in order to expand the territory of separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to the Ukrainian military.
On Tuesday in Turkey, Russia said it would scale down operations in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, both of which are in northern Ukraine, but officials in both regions say fighting has continued in some areas.
Late last week, Russia said it would shift its military focus to the eastern Donbas region, where fighting has been ongoing for eight years between Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian armed forces.
— with files from The Associated Press and Reuters.