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In the city of Mariupol, DPR and Russian troops secured almost all residential areas. The advance have recently accelerated and there are few hotspots of Ukrainian resistance left in the Primorskiy district, street fighting continues in the multi-storey buildings along the main avenue.
Ukrainian nationalists are taking shelter in the industrial facilities of the city. Battles continue in the areas of Azovstal and Azovmash.
The seaport is almost under the DPR control. The AFU retreated to the eastern corner of the seaport and to the residential areas nearby. The seaport is still under the AFU fire.
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Azov militants burned a foreign ship in the seaport of Mariupol
The retreating remnants of Ukrainian nationalist units seized two foreign vessels “Tsarevna” and “Lady Augusta” in the seaport. The DPR representative confirmed that, holding the crews of these vessels hostage, the Azov nationalists are firing from the decks with 120 mm mortars, various types of grenade launchers and small arms. The fate of the crew members of these vessels is still unknown.
Apache vessel
On the night of April 9, the Ukrainian military made another attempt of evacuation from Mariupol, this time by sea.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation provided the following details on the attempt to break into Mariupol on board the Apache cargo ship.
The Ukrainian Apache, a Maltese-flagged dry-cargo ship assigned to the Maltese port of Valetta, was sailing in a caravan of ships from the Gulf of Taganrog to the Kerch Strait in the nighttime.
At 22:38 Moscow time, 30 km southeast of Mariupol, a dry-cargo ship suddenly changed its course and attempted to break through to the Mariupol seaport blocked from the sea by the Black Sea Fleet.
The Ukrainian dry cargo ship did not respond to Russian border guards’ demands to contact them through the international channel and continued heading in the direction of Mariupol port.
Warning artillery firing by two border patrol ships along the vessel’s course did not cause the dry cargo ship to change course or slow down.
While heading towards Mariupol port, the vessel was engaged in radio communication, transmitting the messages “I am ‘Maniac’, coming for you”. At the same time, signal fires were observed on the shore.
To block the movement of the intruder vessel, from 22.53 to 23.30, the Black Sea Fleet and the border patrol ships opened artillery fire on the Apache dry-cargo ship.
A direct hit caused a fire in the stern of the ship.
The Ukrainian dry cargo ship then went adrift, the crew got in touch with the border ships with a request to cease fire and confirmed their readiness to comply with all the demands of the Russian sailors.
No crew members on the ship were injured as a result of the firing. The fire was extinguished by the ship’s crew themselves.
After being inspected, the Ukrainian Apache and its crew are convoyed to the Yeysk port.
Meanwhile, DPR forces began evacuation of the crews of the vessels blockaded in the seaport. Since February, sailors from different countries, including citizens of Ukraine, were held hostage by the Ukrainian nationalists, and were used by the AFU as a human shield.
Crews from at least two vessels have been evacuated so far. One vessel is Russian, another is Ukrainian.
The crew consisting of 14 sailor ( 1 Russian and 13 Ukrainian) of the Ukrainian vessel “Blue Star”, under the flag of Panama, was evacuated under fire of the AFU.
The crew of the Russian vessel also included Azerbaijani citizens. The sailors confirmed that they were threatened and robbed by Azov militants.
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The sailors recorded everything that happened on the ship in the ship’s log:
“The vessel was seized by the AFU group. 7 soldiers boarded the ship, ordered to lie face down. Having gathered everyone on the main deck, at gunpoint, the senior group was given the command: at the slightest movement — shoot dead. After everyone was put on deck, they began to take the crew members one to the cabin for documents — all this happened at gunpoint. After collecting documents and equipment (laptops, phones, hard drives), everyone was taken to the bridge and once again, at gunpoint, the crew was put face down on the deck.
Climbing up to the running bridge, it was found that all the equipment was in a faulty condition. VHF (ultrashort waves) radio stations were torn out almost completely, portable stations were broken and thrown overboard — there was no communication at all. When being on the bridge, the military threatened the crew :
1) take the crew to the Azovstal plant, strip, tie and leave
2) take out to the city, strip and leave
3) just shootAfter waiting for the group commander and offering him one of the options for what to do with the crew, he gave the command to leave everyone alive. Then he said he was a fighter of the national battalion “Azov” and began to speak rudely about Russia and the authorities. After that, they put all the documents and equipment in a bag, saying “sit quietly and do not use the connection, otherwise we will shoot you dead.” After the departure of the military, the crew made a detour and inspection of the vessel, it was found that the crew had no more cash, all cabins were overturned.”
