Table of Contents
What has happened?
- On Tuesday, two “super powerful bombs” exploded in Mariupol, as Ukrainian authorities attempted to rescue civilians from the besieged southern port city.
- According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 100,000 people are trapped in the city,
- Which has been described as a “freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings” by those who have managed to flee.
- As Russian troops advance on the capital, Kyiv is under curfew.
- Following several rounds of inconclusive negotiations, Russia stated that it would like to see “more substantial” peace talks with Ukraine.
- The Kremlin also stated on Tuesday that it would only use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict if it faced a “existential threat.”
Ashes of dead land
- The Russian offensive against Mariupol has turned the city into “ashes of a dead land”, the city council asserted on Tuesday, Describing the increased bombarding and shelling ever since Ukraine rejected the Kremlin’s proposal to lay down their arms and surrender.
- Mariupol has been a key fighting ground as Moscow looks to overturn its 2014 loss when the Russia-backed separatists had failed to capture the city in the Donetsk oblast (region).
Why is Mariupol significant to Russia?
- Geographically, Mariupol forms a land bridge between Crimea–which Russia annexed in 2014–and Donbass, the separatist-held regions of Ukraine.
- As of now, the Sea of Azov falls between the Donetsk-Luhansk region and Crimea.
- Just a 100-km away from the separatist-held regions, the rebel forces had tried to capture the city in 2014. However, Ukrainian forces reclaimed the region.
- Then president Petro Poroshenko had declared Mariupol the regional capital of the oblast after Donetsk fell to rebel forces.
- In 2016, it also became a ‘city of solidarity’—as termed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees—welcoming internally displaced people from the contested territories.
Maritime advantage
- Not just land, capturing Mariupol also gives Russia a maritime advantage.
- With the fall of Kherson, Russia has already expanded its control over the Black Sea coastline, most of which is dominated by Moscow after it seized Crimea.
- Russian troops have also launched attacks on Mykolayiv and Odessa, cities along the Black Sea. However, Ukrainian troops have been able to resist its advances so far.
- In the East, much of the coastline along the Sea of Azov is also under Russian territory, barring Mariupol, which is home to one of the largest ports of Ukraine.
- Melitopol and Berdyansk along Azov were taken over by Russian forces just days after the invasion began.
- If Mariupol falls, Russia will control the entire coastline along the Sea of Azov and much of the Black Sea, cutting off Ukraine’s maritime trade.
- In 2014, it had lost a third of its Black Sea coastline, access to the Kerch Strait and five of its seaports.
Economic hit
- Mariupol continues to account for a fifth of Ukraine’s ferrous metal exports.
- Along with Berdyansk, it also makes up for 5% of grain exports.
- It is also home to two of the largest iron and steel plants in Europe — Azovstal and Ilyich.
- Azovstal has reportedly been damaged by Russian shelling.
- Hence, Moscow’s control over Mariupol will be a significant hit to Ukraine’s maritime trade and metal production.
Novorossiya
- In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin invoked ‘Novorossiya’ (New Russia) while talking to reporters.
- Novorossiya is a historical term for territories considered to be part of Russia under tsarist rule, which included large parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, such as Odessa, Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk.
- Effectively, controlling Mariupol will put Putin closer to the imagined Novorossiya.
conclusion
- Lastly, with the battlefield across northern Ukraine “largely static”, according to the latest update by British military intelligence, a win in Mariupol will be a major morale booster for Russian forces.
- Moreover, Mariupol is also the headquarter of the Azov regiment, which in 2014 had warded off Russian troops.
- US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called Russia’s invasion a ‘failure’.
- “Russia intended to accomplish three basic objectives in launching its unprovoked attack against Ukraine:
- First, to subjugate Ukraine; second, to enhance Russian power and prestige; and third, to divide and weaken the West.
- Russia has thus far manifestly failed to accomplish all three objectives. In fact, it has thus far achieved the opposite,” Sullivan said.
Q) Bloody Sunday is associated with which of the following revolution in Russia?
- Russian Revolution of 1905
- Democratic Revolution 1917
- Great October Revolution 1917
- Bolotnikov Rebellion
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