Day: 25 March 2022

Russians are massively deporting Ukrainians from Mariupol, which is under Russian siege – at least 6,000 people have already been displaced. The Russians are forcing people to get on buses and taking them to “filter camps”, after which people are sent to distant cities in Russia, “Ukrainian journalist Anastasia Lapatina wrote on Twitter today . Another 15,000 are ready for deportation to Russia. In the last 20 days, the Russian military has prevented the evacuation of civilians who want to flee the bombs, say Mariupol officials. Now the Russian occupiers are forcibly deporting thousands of Mariupol residents to Russia!”, Writes the Local Council on the Telegram page of the Mariupol Local Council .

“Residents of the Left Bank are beginning to be deported en masse to Russia,” the Mariupol institution wrote. “In total, about 15,000 Mariupolens were prepared for deportation. These are about half of all residents who are still in the Left Bank neighborhood. It is known that the occupiers are forcing people already exhausted by the war to get on the buses. There are also reports that Russian occupiers have confiscated people’s passports and other Ukrainian identity documents, “the statement said. “The deportees are first taken to the so-called filter camps, from where they are redistributed to various remote cities in Russia. Today, it is known that approximately 6,000 Mariupolens have already been forcibly deported to the territory of the occupier “ , according to the Mariupol institution. “Despite the fact that the Russian side regularly announces the possible evacuation of people on the territory controlled by Ukraine, in reality this is not the case, adds the institution. For the past 20 days, occupants have blocked the evacuation column and prevented people from being rescued safely. Right now, buses leaving Zaporizhia for Berdyansk to evacuate Mariupol residents have been blocked. Obviously, this is done only to prevent people from returning to the territory controlled by Ukraine. Despite the fact that this is what the inhabitants of the Ukrainian city want. ”

“What the Russian occupiers are doing cannot be explained. At first, he blocks a peaceful city, deliberately kills people, and then forcibly deports them to their territory. Ukraine experienced this only during World War II. Unfortunately, history repeats itself. It’s just that now instead of Nazis – racists. We are now building a database of deported residents from Mariupol and we will work on their return to Ukraine , “said Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko.

President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine as he sought to answer his Ukrainian counterpart’s impassioned call for help and leadership delivered to Congress earlier in the day. “The world is united in our support for Ukraine and our determination to make (Russian President Vladimir) Putin pay a very heavy price,” Biden said before signing a presidential memorandum at the White House to deliver the military assistance. “America is leading this effort, together with our allies and partners, providing an enormous level of security and humanitarian assistance that we’re adding to today and we’re going to continue to do more in the days and weeks ahead.”

The new details about the US’ military assistance to Ukraine comes hours after Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, addressed US members of Congress, renewing his calls for more assistance as his homeland continues to battle Russian military’s invasion.

Biden, in his remarks on Wednesday, attempted to level with Americans about the long road ahead in the war.

“I want to be honest with you,” the President said. “This could be a long and difficult battle. But the American people will be steadfast in our support of the people of Ukraine in the face of Putin’s immoral, unethical attacks on civilian population.” According to the White House, the $800 million in security assistance will provide Ukraine with: 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 100 drones, “over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds,” 25,000 sets of body armor, 25,000 helmets, 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, as well as “2,000 Javelin, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, and 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems.”