Mariupol is being ‘tortured to death,’ according to Zelenskiy

KYIV (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a speech at Chatham House that the wrecked southern port city of Mariupol is “an example of torture and starvation used as a weapon of war,” and that no international organisations are allowed to access the city.

According to Zelenskiy:

The Russian military handles people with inhumanity and violence.

War does not cause death. This isn’t a military exercise. This was torturing to death.  Terrorism and hatred were at work here.

He claims Mariupol has been decimated.

The city has been completely destroyed.

According to Zelenskiy, Ukraine requires equipment and weapons to break the siege at the city’s Azovstal steelworks. He said Russia would continue the attack on Ukraine until they put a stop to it.

Putin will issue a nuclear “doomsday” warning on May 9th

According to Reuters, Vladimir Putin will issue a “doomsday” warning to the west when he leads celebrations on May 9 celebrating the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in WWII.

On Monday, Russia’s Victory Day, the president will give a speech in Moscow’s Red Square in front of a parade of troops, intercontinental ballistic missiles, rockets and tanks.

Tu-160 strategic bombers and supersonic fighters will fly above St Basil’s Cathedral, according to Russia’s defence ministry. The Il-80 “doomsday” command plane, which would carry Russia’s top brass in the event of a nuclear war, will take part in the fly-past for the first time since 2010.

In the event of a nuclear war, the “doomsday” plane would serve as the Russian president’s mobile command centre. It is technologically advanced, but precise information is classified as Russian state secrets.

Putin has compared Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Soviet Union’s fight against the Nazis, portraying it as a battle to safeguard Russian speakers from Nazi persecution. The claims are dismissed as nonsense by Ukraine and the West, who allege that Russian President Vladimir Putin is launching an unprovoked war of aggression.

Western officials have predicted that Putin may use the Victory Parade to declare a military escalation, possibly an explicit declaration of war, ahead of May 9th.

Summary of the events

  • According to Russian media sources, three evacuation buses departed the beleaguered Azovstal steel factory in the Ukrainian coastal city of Mariupol on Friday. 25 residents, including children, were transported from the facility to a camp in the Russian-controlled town of Bezimenne via bus. An estimated 200 civilians, and Ukrainian resistance fighters, remained stuck in underground refuges at the massive industrial complex.
  • Prior to the sinking of the Russian battleship Moskva last month, US officials said they exchanged information about its whereabouts with Ukraine, highlighting the tight intelligence support Kyiv receives from Washington.
  • The foreign ministry of Russia said it summoned Deborah Bronnert, Britain’s ambassador to Russia, and expressed strong opposition to proposed UK penalties on Russian media. According to the ministry, Russia would continue to react “harshly and decisively” to all sanctions the UK imposed.
  • The southern port city of Mariupol, according to Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is “an example of starvation and torture used as a weapon of war.” He remarked in a speech to Chatham House that he was “elected as president of Ukraine, not a mini-Ukraine,” and that if peace talks are to work, Russia must first return to the land it occupied before its invasion on February 23.
  • According to a local official, Russian troops are aiming to surround and charge Severodonetsk, Ukraine’s easternmost city held by Kyiv. The capture of Severodonetsk would be a significant victory for the Russian army, which has refocused its efforts on capturing the entire eastern Donbas region.
  • When Vladimir Putin leads celebrations on May 9, he will issue a “doomsday” warning to the west. On Monday, Russia’s Victory Day, the Il-80 “doomsday” command plane will fly over St Basil’s Cathedral.
  • According to Amnesty International, there is strong proof that Russian troops perpetrated war crimes in the Kyiv region in February and March. In the early days of the invasion, when Russian soldiers captured an area outside of Ukraine’s capital, including the town of Bucha, civilians were subjected to atrocities including as “reckless gunshots and torture,” according to the rights group.
  • According to German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht, Germany will supply seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, in addition to the five artillery systems offered by the Dutch government. The PzH 2000 is one of the Bundeswehr’s most powerful artillery weapons, capable of hitting targets at a range of 40 kilometres (25 miles).