3 ms·
These are areas they'd been trying to get civilians to leave for weeks. Humanitarian corridors kept collapsing. We don't know why, but is it at least plausible
by caoilte 4y ago
These are areas they'd been trying to get civilians to leave for weeks. Humanitarian corridors kept collapsing. We don't know why, but is it at least plausible that Azov forces (who have a record of massacring civilians in Mariupol) were working to prevent it. (Eg how the hell did hundreds of civilians end up trapped in the azovstal steel plant?)
It is also plausible that some residents would prefer to go east to west. Not every resident of Eastern Ukraine supports the government. And we don't hear about it much, but reprisals and extra judicial killings of "collaborators" are happening.
Finally there is self interest. It's by no means certain that refugees who go west will be able to return to Mariupol after the war.
This will all get me voted down because it doesn't suit the narrative. I don't like the Russian invasion and I want it to fail but I also wish we were interested in the truth more than "winning the information war".
- stjohnswarts 4y agoThe russians could have let people leave Mariupol. I don't believe (and nothing you say would convinc me otherwise) that Putin doesn't have that much control over his own generals/top level officers. He's certainly picked a sad bunch but they can easily not launch artillery assaults at bus convoys leaving the city. They might have crappy comms but it's not that bad.