In a briefing earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskyy updated the press about the situation in Mariupol, Ukraine’s second-largest port city, which he described as “worsening.”
Zelenskyy stated that, at this point, the Ukrainians have not been able to achieve a positive result against Russian troops in the battle for the already besieged city in southeast Ukraine. He added that the Ukrainian troops are now defending hundreds of wounded civilians and that casualties continue to mount.
Zelenskyy went on to imply that he believes this targeting of civilians by the Russians is not by chance and speculated that at least a thousand or more civilians — women and children — are currently under siege. Zelenskyy stated that he wishes he could say that everything will get easier and that tomorrow the Ukrainian troops and civilians in Mariupol will receive the help they need. However, he was hesitant to say with certainty that this would be able to happen.
