“Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed” concern “over the lives of his soldiers,” said Alexei Arestovich, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the UNIAN news agency.
With these words, the Administration of the President of Ukraine commented on the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Moscow Armed Forces to cancel the attack on the Azovstal steel plant in a Ukrainian city on the shores of the Sea of Azov. Mariupol.
“This order means the following. Russian forces cannot take Azovstal, they have realized that they have suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment,” Arestovich added.
The adviser to the President of Ukraine added: “Our fighters keep the plant.” The refusal to storm could also be explained by the fact that the Russians withdrew their main forces north to the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (areas in eastern Ukraine, partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists, located about 120 kilometers from Mariupol).
“Russia will not achieve its goals, and the premature proclamation of victories without waiting for Easter and Victory Day (May 9) means that Moscow has realized the futility of its last active combat operation at this stage of the war,” Arestovich was adamant.
UNIAN called the report of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Putin on the capture of Mariupol a lie.