Ukraine urges Easter truce for Mariupol

Ukraine on Sunday called for a truce in battered Mariupol for Orthodox Easter, celebrated in each Russia and Ukraine, as combating rages in the course of the east and south of the country

Kyiv also said Moscow was “continuously attacking” the Azovstal metallic plant in besieged Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces continue to be holed up and asked for unique talks with Russia to free its trapped army.

“Russia is constantly attacking the Mariupol Azovstal. The region in which our civilians and military are positioned is shelled with heavy air bombs and artillery,” presidential marketing consultant Mikhaylo Podolyak, stated on Twitter.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week ordered his forces not to attack the plant, but to lay siege to it instead.

But Podolyak claimed Russia is building up forces for an “assault.”

“The Russian Federation should think about the remnants of its reputation,” he said.

He called on Moscow to “announce a real Easter truce in Mariupol” and create an “immediate humanitarian corridor for civilians.”

Podolyak also asked Moscow to “agree to a ‘special round of negotiations’ so that we take/exchange our military”.

A day earlier Ukraine said Russian forces had “thwarted” an attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol.

Fighting raged in other parts of the country on Sunday, dashing any hope for an Easter ceasefire.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said two children were killed in an eastern village by Russian fire.

“The lives of two children from the Ocheretyn community were taken away by the Russian occupiers this Easter morning,” he said on Telegram.

The children, both girls, were five and 14.

Kyrylenko urged locals to evacuate.

The Ukrainian army earlier on Sunday said Russia’s offensive in the east and south of the country had “intensified” and alleged Moscow was also targeting civilian infrastructure.

“The enemy continues to partially blockade Kharkiv,” Kyiv’s military stated, referring to Ukraine’s second city near the Russian border.

It stated there were ongoing “battles” near the eastern cities of Rubizhne and Popasna.