Ukrainian intelligence claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning a military parade in the war torn city of Mariupol, where the controversial Azov Battalion is still holed up in tunnels under a steelworks.
European media reported today that Mariupol “will become the center of celebrations,” quoting Ukrainian Military Intelligence.
The city’s victory parade will apparently be part of Russia’s larger celebrations of Victory Day on May 9, the date they celebrate the allied forces’ combined victory in Europe during World War 2.
“The main avenues of the city are [being] urgently cleaned, the debris and the bodies of the dead removed, as well as the ammunition which did not explode,” the Ukrainians added, before warning of a “large-scale propaganda campaign” to convince the 120,000 estimated remaining residents that Russian rule will mean a return to normalcy.
Apparently, the event will be televised for the domestic audience in Russia.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko previously alleged that the Russians “are suppressing all evidence” of wrongdoing and “give food to the local population in exchange for their work.”
According to AFP, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigo “did not confirm” whether celebrations would occur in Mariupol, but said that “military parades will take place in 28 Russian cities” featuring “nearly 65,000 people, about 2,400 types of weapons and military equipment and more than 460 planes” that are not committed to the country’s “special operation” in Ukraine.
Russia has claimed victory in Mariupol, though the 10% neo-Nazi Azov Battalion remains deeply embedded in the encircled Azovstal steel mill in the eastern half of the city.
The Azov Battalion’s use of neo-Nazi iconography and flags have fueled Moscow’s claims that Ukraine is overrun with fascists, and have raised questions in the West about why the racist paramilitary group received funding from the United States.
It’s unclear if Russia predicts the Azovstal situation will be resolved by May 9, however, Azov recently allowed a small number of civilians to leave Azovstal.
Azov claims that Russia will not allow the civilians to leave, while Russia claims that Azov is keeping the civilians as hostages or human shields.
Some of those survivors are now recounting their experiences.
βWe expected to die at any minute,β a survivor named Natalya told NBC. She added that there were many wounded in the tunnels underneath the facility – built to withstand nuclear war – and doubted that they were receiving proper medical treatment.
Russia invaded its neighbor earlier this year after a years long standoff over the disputed Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. Moscow claims it launched a “special military operation” to protect ethnic Russians in the Donetsk and Luhansk breakaway republics, while Kiev and its allies claims that the invasion was unprovoked.
Dorothy Hudson
May 6, 2022 at 4:04 pm
Cash making job for evey american to earn and work online. earns more than $15k every month with this home based job.bvg i made $18521 from this job in my spare time afte my college. easy to do job and its regular income are awesome. no skills needed to do this job all you need to know is how to copy and paste stuff online.
Open This Website >>>>>>>>>> πΎππ.πͺπ¨πΊπ―π¨π·π·1.πͺππ