Ukraine's Armed Forces hold "Azovstal" and strike on Russian positions in the Luhansk region

Mariupol is in a difficult situation. Fighting is raging around Azovstal, which serves as the Azov Regiment's headquarters.

Azovstal is currently the only organized area of resistance of Ukraine's Armed Forces. Unfortunately, the Russian occupiers have taken over the area around the metallurgical complex. The invaders also control the majority of Mariupol's seaport.

I also note that, despite statements about the impossibility of deblocking Mariupol, there is a military expert assessment. They insisted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine could strike ahead of time near Gorlovka and Donetsk in order to divert significant forces from the occupying forces and the so-called DPR's 1st Army Corps. Mariupol holds the line. Soldiers from the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, along with other Armed Forces and National Guard units, successfully conducted a joint special operation to evacuate border guards and police from the Azovstal plant. 

Currently, the enemy continues to block our units in the vicinity of the Azovstal plant and launch air strikes on the city, including with long-range aircraft. An engineering unit arrived in Mariupol to demine the port infrastructure. 

Why is Russia so desperate to seize Mariupol? First, it is a deep-water port. Unlike Taganrog in Russia, it can accommodate ships with much larger drafts. Second, Mariupol gives the chance of establishing a so-called land corridor from ORDLO to Crimea. 

Most importantly, Mariupol is the route to the flanking coverage of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is currently involved in heavy defensive battles in the Joint Forces Operation zone. That is why Russia is attempting to take control of this strategically important Ukrainian city.

Instead, Ukraine is preparing to use military force to unblock Mariupol in the Donetsk region, but this will require assistance from international partners in the form of armaments. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated this during a press conference on Thursday, April 21. 

Civilians remain in Mariupol, but Russia continues to obstruct evacuation attempts and refuses to exchange wounded for wounded.

I would like to draw attention to the differences in estimates of the course of the military campaign in eastern Ukraine. 

These are the words of Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the President's Office. Arestovich stated the day after the start of the full-fledged battle for the Donbass that not everything is as frightening as it appears. "In Marinka, they advanced in the gray zone and proudly announced Marinka's capture." "They were attacked by our forces, and they fled," Arestovich clarified. 

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces regained control of Marinka after a successful counteroffensive, as a result of which the Russian Armed Forces suffered losses and were forced to withdraw from the settlement. 

"The enemy suffered losses and retreated in the Donetsk direction, near the town of Marinka, as a result of our counteroffensive. Defense Forces units reclaimed control of this settlement," the report said.

However, I would like to reassure Ukrainians that the Armed Forces are putting up a good fight against the Russian invaders. In the last 24 hours, eight enemy attacks were repulsed, and nine tanks, eighteen armored and thirteen vehicles, a tanker, and three artillery systems were destroyed. 

According to Serhiy Haidai, the head of the occupied Luhansk Regional State Administration, up to 130 wounded militants were transferred from the fighting area near Popasna to the rear areas of the occupied Luhansk region.

What caused it to happen? The day before, CI Prava Sprava handed over the bases of Wagner and Russian military members to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian intelligence community. On these points, artillery strikes were carried out. As a result, there have been numerous losses among the occupiers.

Furthermore, it was recently reported that "Putin's chef," Yevgeny Prigozhyn, had arrived in Donbas. According to reports, he was allegedly on the territory of the so-called "DPR." Milonov, a deputy of the Russian Federation's State Duma, made this information public. 

Prava Sprava was able to track him down to the city of Pervomaisk in the occupied Luhansk region.

Furthermore, the location for Milonov and Prigozhyn's photography was established - Pervomaiskaya School No. 2.  Across the street is the former vocational school No. 39, which now serves as the PMC Wagner's deployment base. These coordinates were given to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who carried out a fire strike on it. Wagner's losses totaled 50 people killed.

This fact demonstrates, once again, that the Ukrainian resistance movement is productive and effective, given the tough situation in the occupied territories.

Dmitry Snegiryov