The bombing continues. A mosque that housed 80 civilians, including Turks, was bombed in Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine and where thousands of people have been besieged for days, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday.
“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana in Mariupol was bombed by the Russian invaders,” the ministry said on Twitter.
“More than 80 adults and children are refugees there, including Turkish citizens.”, he added, without specifying when the bombing occurred. This strategic city, bombarded for days, suffers a devastating siege.
Mariupol
The very scant news coming out of the Ukrainian port of Mariupol reflects the desperation of residents trapped in the city besieged by Russian forces, with bodies left in the streets and civilians bombed as they try to flee.
Those who have been able to leave search through all the media for news of those who remained in this city, where communications have been almost totally interrupted for more than a week.
Some few places in the city sometimes allow obtaining a weak telephone signal. The city is without water, without gas, without electricity, without communications, and in recent days people have been seen fighting over food.
At least 1,200 died after the Russian invasion
According to estimates by the regional administration, more than1,200 people have died since the start of the siege, but the figure does not take into account the bodies that could be found in the rubble of the destroyed buildings.
Attempts to establish humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave have failed several times. The two parties blame each other for this failure.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The European Union (EU) has to “do more” for Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated this Friday, after the leaders of the community bloc ruled out the day before a rapid accession of his country.
“The European Union must do more. He must do more for us, for Ukraine.”He said in a video posted on Telegram. “The decisions of politicians must coincide with the mood of their people,” he added.
The heads of state and government of the EU last Thursday ruled out a rapid accession of Ukraine to the bloc but left the door open to closer ties.
Kyiv had submitted its request for accession in the hope of being able to join the bloc quickly. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stressed that “there is no quick procedure” for accession, but that the EU does want to work intensively with Ukraine.
In the same video, Zelenskyy attacked Russia on Friday for the idea of welcoming volunteer Syrian fighters who want to join the front against the Ukrainians.
“This is a war against a very stubborn enemy […], who has decided to hire mercenaries against our citizens. Murderers from Syria, from a country where everything has been destroyed by the occupiers, something they are putting us through” now, Zelenskyy declared.
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