Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
A senior Russian Defense Ministry official says the humanitarian situation in some Ukrainian cities continues to decline rapidly, blaming Ukraine’s nationalist forces for the worsening situation.
“Unfortunately, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is continuing to deteriorate rapidly, and in some cities it has reached catastrophic proportions,” said the Head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, on Saturday while speaking on the 17th day of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
Saying that Russian forces were observing a ceasefire previously announced in parts of Ukraine, the Russian official accused Ukrainian “nationalists” of laying mines in residential areas and destroying key infrastructure, including roads and bridges, leaving civilians with no access to electricity, water, food, and medicine.
Mizintsev added that an especially dire humanitarian situation was developing in the southeastern port city of Mariupol, accusing Ukraine’s “nationalists” of trapping hundreds of thousands of people in the besieged city.
The Russian Defense Ministry official also accused Ukraine’s military of holding hostage nearly 7,000 people from 16 foreign countries and crews from more than 50 foreign vessels, saying, “Hundreds of thousands of people, including foreigners, are being forcibly held by [Ukrainian] nationalists.”
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarization” of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine. In 2014, the two regions declared themselves new republics, refusing to recognize Ukraine’s Western-backed government.
Announcing the operation, Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”
On Day 16th of the operation, the Russian military said it was encircling the capital Kiev, the city of Kharkiv in the east, Sumy in northeast, and Mariupol.
