Ukraine proposed a “special round” of negotiations with Russia in the besieged city of Mariupol

Ukraine proposed holding a “special round” of negotiations with Russia on Wednesday in the besieged city of Mariupol, according to a senior Kiev official.

“Yes, without any conditions. We are ready to hold a 'special round of negotiations' right in Mariupol,” senior Ukrainian negotiator and presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

“One to one. Two against two. To save our boys, Azov, the military, the civilians, the children, the living and the wounded. To everyone. Because they're ours. Because they're in my heart. Forever,” he added.

Another key Ukrainian negotiator, David Arakhamia, said on Telegram that he and Podolyak “are ready to arrive in Mariupol to hold talks with the Russian side about the evacuation of our military barracks and civilians.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, stated that he is ready to talk “until the end of the war” with the Russian Federation and its president , Vladimir Putin, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the success of the peace negotiations will depend on Kiev's willingness to take Moscow's demands into account.

“We are open to any format of dialogue. Whether I like it or not, I'm willing to talk. I have been there for the past three years and I am still ready, until the end of the war, to dialogue with the Russian Federation and its president,” Zelensky said at a press conference with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who is visiting the country today.

The Ukrainian president pointed out that Russia was already transmitting this message (if it was favorable to dialogue) through the media “until the offensive began” and said that, despite public signals, Moscow “is not ready for a peaceful resolution.”

The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boishenko, today called on civilians still in the besieged city to use the evacuation agreed for today and which, according to the local authorities, wants to save some 6,000 inhabitants.

“Don't be afraid, go to Zaporiyia, you'll be safe there,” said the mayor, through his Telegram account, after this morning the Kiev government announced an agreement to open a humanitarian corridor amid the city's emergency situation.

The objective of this corridor is to evacuate mainly women, children and the elderly and its first destination would be Zaporiyia, where, the mayor recalled, “they will be able to reunite with their families.”

The opening of a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, after none had been established in the last three days because there were no security guarantees for these operations, according to Kiev

The mayor, who is already outside Mariupol, estimates that some 100,000 civilians remain in the besieged port city, which had half a million inhabitants before the start of the invasion.

Russia gave a new ultimatum on Wednesday to Ukrainian forces resisting at the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol to lay down their arms.

This is the third appeal in four days to Ukrainian troops, after both Sunday and Tuesday those deadlines expired without such surrender.

In that steel mill are the last resistors among the Ukrainian troops, in an undetermined number but estimated at around 2,000 to 2,500. Thousands of civilians have also taken refuge there, according to Ukrainian sources.

An officer of the 36th brigade of the Marine Corps, who continues to defend the city, sent a dramatic message via facebook, asking for international support. “The enemy is ten times greater than us,” wrote Sergey Wolyna, officer of that brigade, according to which Mariupol has “days, if not hours” left until he falls into the power of Russian troops.

“We call and implore all world leaders to help us. We ask them to use the extraction procedure and take us to the territory of a third country,” he added.

Volyna assured that the Russians had the “advantage of air, artillery, ground forces, equipment and tanks.” “We are defending only one object, the Azovstal plant, where in addition to military personnel, civilians have fallen as victims of this war,” he said.

In addition to the soldiers and militiamen who resist, there are at least 1,000 civilians sheltered in the underground of the industrial complex, said the municipal authority of Mariupol, which fears more than 20,000 civilians killed in the city.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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