According to an advisor to the city’s mayor, Russian forces aim to shut entry to Mariupol on Monday and prohibit mobility inside its areas in order to filter Ukrainian males, some of whom will be compelled to fight against their own nation.
Men in Mariupol will be ‘screened’ by Moscow, according to Petro Andryushchenko, who warned today that some would be compelled to clean wreckage, some will be forced to join the Russian army, and those judged ‘unreliable’ will be ‘isolated.’
The Mayor’s adviser stated on Telegram that the procedure had already reached’maximum pace,’ with Russian soldiers employing filtration camps and checkpoints to identify which of the city’s citizens may still be useful to them.
Those going through the filtration system were being subjected to ‘interrogation, gadget testing and body examination,’ he said.
Andryushchenko also said that the Kremlin plans to shut off the besieged port city from April 18 (Monday) to anyone wishing to enter or exit.
Russia is doing this, he said, because the Mariupol is no longer hospitable for the residents who have stayed behind since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his brutal invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov in southeastern Ukraine, has seen the worst fighting of the seven-week-long war. Home to 400,000 people before Russia’s invasion, the city has been reduced to rubble by Russian shelling.
Over 20,000 civilians are believed to have been killed, tens of thousands remain trapped in the city, and countless numbers have fled. It is one of a number of sites were international investigators believe war crimes have taken place – including the bombing of a maternity war and of a theatre sheltering hundreds of people.
Amid fears that Mariupol could soon fall under complete Russian control, Ukraine said on Friday that it was still trying to break the siege of the city, as fighting raged around the city’s massive steel works and port.
Russian forces plan to close access to Mariupol on Monday and ban movement within its districts in order to filter Ukrainian men, some of whom will be forced to fight against their own country, an advisor to the city’s mayor has said. Pictured: A Russian armoured personnel carrier drives through the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 15, 2022
Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov in southeastern Ukraine, has seen the worst fighting of the seven-week-long war. Home to 400,000 people before Russia’s invasion, the city has been reduced to rubble by Russian shelling. Pictured: A Russian armoured personnel carrier, April 15
‘The occupiers are announcing that not only the city will be closed for entry / exit for everyone from Monday, but there will also be a ban on moving around the districts for a week,’ Andryushchenko wrote on Telegram. ‘At this time , 100% of men will be filtered . remaining in the city, for which they will be moved to Novoazovsk.’
He continued: ‘According to information, some people are planned to be mobilized to the Russian occupation corps, some are forced to be sent to clear the debris, and some of the unreliable are isolated.
‘Given all the factors, the occupiers are going to leave in the city only women and men to serve the needs. We attribute this to the impossibility of keeping the civilian population in the city, even in the least liveable conditions.’
Detailing the ‘filtration’ programme, the Mayor’s advisor wrote: ‘The filtration procedure has gained maximum momentum.
In filtration camps and checkpoints, one hundred percent of men after standard filtration abuse (interrogation, gadget testing, body examination) are separated from others and separate interrogations are conducted, including instigation of execution.
‘In general, we can say that from 5 to 10 percent is not filtered and then exported to Dokuchaevsk and Donetsk. The future is unknown at this time, we are working.’
In recent weeks, Russia’s military focus has shifted to seizing the eastern Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists control the Donetsk and Lugansk areas.
This would allow Moscow to create a southern corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula, and Ukrainian authorities have been urging people in the region to quickly move west in advance of a large-scale Russian offensive.
Andryushchenko’s update would suggest men from Mariupol could be being sent to the region and forced to fight for the Russian invaders.
Service members of pro-Russian troops ride on armoured vehicles in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict on a road leading to the city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 15, 2022
Service members from Chechen Republic look on during fighting in Ukraine-Russia conflict in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 15, 2022
If Moscow captures Mariupol, it would be the only big city to fall to the Russians so far. Russia’s defence ministry said it had captured the city’s Illich steel works. The report could not be confirmed.
Ukrainian defenders are mainly believed to be holding out in Azovstal, another huge steel works.
Both plants are owned by Metinvest – the empire of Ukraine’s richest businessman and backbone of Ukraine’s industrial east – which told Reuters on Friday it would never let its enterprises operate under Russian occupation.
‘The situation in Mariupol is difficult and hard. Fighting is happening right now. The Russian army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city,’ defence ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a televised briefing, although he said the Russians have not completely captured it.
Motuzyanyk said Russia had used long-range bombers to attack Mariupol for the first time since its Feb. 24 invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting on Friday with the country’s military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.
Local residents walk past an apartment building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 15, 2022