Zelenskyy: "100,000 Trapped in Mariupol... Urging Humanitarian Corridor Access"

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reiterated a call to the Russian side to allow a humanitarian corridor, stating that about 100,000 civilians are trapped and facing starvation in Mariupol, a southeastern Ukrainian port city where Russian forces are concentrating their offensive. As Ukrainian forces launched counterattacks in some northern front areas such as Kyiv (Kiyev), Russian troops are carrying out indiscriminate offensives to capture major port cities along the southern Black Sea coast, including Mariupol and Odesa.

According to AFP on the 22nd (local time), President Zelensky said in a video address, "About 100,000 civilians in Mariupol are in inhumane conditions," adding, "They are enduring continuous shelling without food or water." He appealed, "We urge the Russian side to allow a safe humanitarian corridor for civilian evacuation."

Mariupol is a major Ukrainian export port densely packed with key metal and smelting plants and is under layered siege by Russian forces, with ongoing bombings. If this city falls, the Crimean Peninsula, occupied by Russia, and the eastern Donbas region, held by pro-Russian separatist forces, will be connected by land, allowing Russian troops to control the entire southern region of Ukraine.

Due to its geopolitical significance, Mariupol has been the focus of Russian military offensives since the early stages of the conflict, resulting in over 80% of buildings being destroyed. Since the 4th, electricity and water supplies have been completely cut off, leaving residents in a state of starvation. Russian forces are attempting ground troop entry while continuing air bombings and naval shelling using the Black Sea fleet.

Casualties in Mariupol are rapidly increasing amid the indiscriminate shelling by Russian forces. The United Nations has already estimated about 20,000 civilian casualties in the city, with over 3,000 presumed dead, and the exact figures remain unknown.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.