UN urges Russian forces for immediate ceasefire in Mariupol

by Kim Heungsoon

Published 24 Apr.2022 21:55(KST)

A maternity hospital in Mariupol, a southern port city of Ukraine, has been reduced to ruins due to indiscriminate bombing by Russian forces. (Mariupol AP=Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The United Nations has called for an immediate ceasefire in Mariupol, a southern Ukrainian port city surrounded by Russian forces.

According to foreign media including AFP, Amin Awad, the UN Coordinator for the Ukraine Crisis, issued a statement on the 24th (local time) urging, "There must be an immediate ceasefire in Mariupol to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped in the city."

Coordinator Awad stated, "Tens of thousands of civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, are at risk of losing their lives in Mariupol," adding, "To save lives, fighting must stop immediately."

He further appealed, "The longer the ceasefire is delayed, the more lives will be endangered. They must be able to evacuate safely today, right now. Tomorrow will be too late."

The day before, the Ukrainian government announced that attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol had failed due to threats from Russian forces. Mariupol is a strategic point connecting Crimea, which Russia forcibly annexed in 2014, and the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatist forces.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Russia has prioritized Mariupol as a key target and has besieged it for nearly two months, making Mariupol one of the cities facing the most severe humanitarian crisis. The Ukrainian government and Western countries estimate that at least several thousand, possibly tens of thousands, of Ukrainian civilians have been sacrificed.