Prime Minister Smyhal said Ukrainian forces will fight in Mariupol to the end

Ukrainian forces who left in Mariupol continue to fight back and resist Russia’s demand for surrender. This was stated by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Omihal in an interview with the American television station ABC. “The city has not yet fallen, and our soldiers are still fighting to the end,Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the situation in the city was desperate and that an escalation of it could lead to an end to peace talks.

Russian forces have been trying to occupy a strategic port on the northern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The city has been under a complete siege since March 2. The conquest of Mariupol would allow Moscow to connect the occupied Ukrainian Crimea by land with the separatist territories of eastern Ukraine, thus securing full control of the Azov coast.

Prime Minister Šmyhal said that although the city is still under Ukrainian control, the local population is suffering. “They have no water, food, heating or electricity. He asks all our partners to help stop this humanitarian catastrophe,“he added.

In an interview with US CBS, Foreign Minister Kuleba described the situation in Mariupol as desperate. He also warned that further escalation in the city could be crucial to ending peace talks with Moscow. President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken the same way before. According to Kuleba, Ukraine and Russia have had virtually no high-level political contact in recent weeks. He added that negotiations are continuing at the expert level.

In a conversation, Ukrainian Prime Minister Smyhal also confirmed that he will attend the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington next week. In the United States, he will try to get more financial support for Ukraine.

Source: Reuters, CTK, CBS, ABC