Donetsk People’s Republic Vows To Liberate of Mariupol

April 9, 2022 (EIRNS)—Officials of the Donetsk People’s Republic are vowing to complete the liberation and mopping up of Mariupol, but finishing the job may take some time. “On the whole, the operation to mop up this city [Mariupol] is nearing its completion, but there are some problems remaining in regard to industrial sites, but they would be eventually solved,” D.P.R. military spokesman Eduard Basurin told Rossiya-1 TV yesterday. “We are moving towards the north,” Basurin continued. “Our troops currently mop up the areas of the Maryinka location and proceed further between the locations of Avdeyevka and Gorlovka.”

TASS also notes that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced earlier in the day that Mariupol was 98% liberated, and the Ukrainian side was retaining only separate strongholds. Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram that “The Banderites are retaining only separate fortified facilities, including the Azovstal factory (a steel rolling plant—ed.), which the Nazis have turned into a true fortress.”

“I communicated with our brothers via a video link-up, introduced my proposals into the plan of action and wished the fighters luck and success,” he added.

Basurin also put the size of the regime’s forces in the Donbas at 90,000 troops. “From Luhansk and along this [Donetsk] curve to the south, according to our intelligence and Ukraine’s own statements, there are about 90,000 men. It is a very large group. The main battle for eliminating Nazism in Ukraine will take place there,” he said.

RT described the campaign for Mariupol as turning into one of the toughest slogs of the campaign in Ukraine, with Ukrainian military and neo-Nazi Azov units setting up defenses inside the city, taking civilians hostage, and turning the battle into a brutal house-by-house fight. Defense Ministry spokesman General Konashenkov noted that Kyiv’s refusal to entertain withdrawal of its forces from Mariupol, leaves no other option except for D.P.R. People’s Militia and the Russian military to fully clear the city.