Arestovych explained why military aid cannot come to Mariupol

OLENA ROSHCHINA - FRIDAY, 18 MARCH, 2022, 19:19

Oleksii Arestovych, Adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, stated that there is no military solution to the situation in Mariupol right now, but that political and diplomatic steps are being taken to overcome the humanitarian catastrophe - the corridors have allowed 40,000 residents to escape the city.

Source: Arestovych in a video comment on Facebook

Quote: "The nearest units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting hard north of Volnovakha. They are being attacked by the overwhelming forces of the aggressor – the unblocking of Mariupol is out of the question, they are barely able to fight back there.

Other units are located 100, 120, 150 kilometres away from Mariupol. They still have to overcome the Russian forces’ defences in those areas. Suppose they broke through - although it is not clear where they would get the reserves to break through and go on the offensive against the overwhelming forces - and went towards Mariupol; they would not be able to cross more than 120 kilometres of open steppe under airstrikes from Crimea and the Rostov region.

The invaders have built a powerful air and aviation defence from Crimea, as well as ground defences. There have been attempts to provide air support, but they have been unsuccessful.

Therefore, there is no military solution to Mariupol right now… Currently, there is a way of political and diplomatic settlement of the situation around Mariupol, first of all, regarding humanitarian catastrophe."

Details: Arestovych stated that more than 10 days ago the President called Mariupol the "No.1 topic" - and is working on resolving this humanitarian issue at the highest international level.

"We managed to move the situation so that Russian troops opened a corridor to leave Mariupol. They did not allow humanitarian aid to enter Mariupol itself but allowed citizens to leave Mariupol. According to our data, more than 40,000 residents have already left Mariupol," said the adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine

He added that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, is ensuring civilian movement on the route to Zaporizhzhia, where the civilians are provided with assistance and moved on further throughout Ukraine.

Arestovych also noted that not everything in the war depends on one side.

Therefore, he urged people not to blame the authorities and not to exert emotional pressure, because representatives of the Office of the President also have relatives in Mariupol.

Arestovych said that currently, the main problem of Mariupol is one of genocide, and that houses there are being destroyed to create panic, so there is no need to help the aggressor in this regard.

He stressed that it is impossible to provide military assistance to Mariupol at the moment, but "we will not surrender Mariupol."