Russian ceasefire to begin at besieged Mariupol steel plant

"As for now, they never come on foot, only artillery,"

That's the Russian tactic... Artillery and Grad missile bombardment until Ukraine forces fall back, take Ukrainian position. Rinse and repeat ...

Low risk for the Russians, leaves the Ukrainians having to decide how many losses to take before retreating. Hoping that Russia will get bored or run out of shells or missiles.. Neither of which is going to happen.

Russia tried to get in and found it too hard. Now they give a cease fire to allow civilians to leave. Something we have heard many times but most were traps to kill those leaving.

Soldiers who have surrendered have disappeared and bodies have been found showing they were executed after surrender. No wonder those who remain refuse to surrender. If they are going to die they may as well die fighting and keeping forces tied down to help the rest of the nation.

Russian lack of morality in this invasion has stunned many. The many atrocities committed by Russian forces and their mercenary recruits constitute war crimes and genocide. Attempts to introduce Russian currency into areas captured show the intent for Russia is capture and Russify as much Ukraine territory as they can get before eventually calling for an end to the conflict. Do not be surprised if the Ukraine fights on to liberate captured towns and territory.

The attitude shown by many Russians who are buying into the false Putin propaganda is revealing they are a violent and horrible people when it comes to war.

People in war say and do the most horrific of things to other people and shows why war is the absolute worst state humanity can sink to. War needs to be avoided as past wars and the current conflict shows, but the message always gets lost in ambition to conquer and greed to take from others.

Russia once again showing us how criminal we can all get when we seek to impose our will on others unwilling to comply.

End the war now.

Russia tried to get in and found it too hard. Now they give a cease fire to allow civilians to leave. Something we have heard many times but most were traps to kill those leaving.

I saw this on Netflix’s “CIA Files” last night too.

The successful UN lead evacuation probably avoided being attacked because the Kiev regime and the NSIE fighters were kept in the dark about the details.

Note the Russian lead coalition was fully informed of the details of the successful and the unsuccessful attempts (you can't move people through a heavily secured perimeter maintained by a professional military without the cooperation of said military, indeed, you can't even get into position to fire at the perimeter, as the Kiev regime forces and NSIE fighters discovered)

The successful UN lead evacuation probably avoided being attacked because the Kiev regime and the NSIE fighters were kept in the dark about the details.

How does that work? Kiev had to be involved in the arrangement in order to prepare the civilians to move out. Just another attempt to put down Ukraine. I would say another fail.

Meanwhile Russia launches a major offensive at this plant. Proving yet again nobody will trust anything Russia says about this war.

Ukraine repels Russian attacks; Mariupol plant battle rages

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/business-news/ukraine-repels-russian-attacks-mariupol-plant-battle-rages/

Russian are making Ukraine a toxic mess,with Asbestos from damage building,

The cease-fire is probably a Russian ruse to reconfigure their ramshackle military operation and reboot their failed strategy, and perhaps an early sign of Putin's losing his nerve after all his nuke-rattling left the West unimpressed. When the shooting is all over and the dust settles, the war reparations paid to Ukraine to build back better will cost Russia a pretty penny, or more than a ruble or two. When the Russian people get to feel the pain of having to bankroll rebuilding their neighbor's vandalized real-estate, Putin's popularity will plummet. And unlike his barking American orange poodle, Putin won't be able to gaslight his supporters into believing that Mexico will be paying the bill.

Interesting there is a cease fire two days after Ukraine blew up a large ammunition depot inside Russia, and a day before that two oil storage facilities also in Russia were blown up. Seems like their mighty S400 air defense system isn't very effective against small propeller driven UASs like those from Bayraktar.

I hope that the Kiev regime's forces at least learn the object lesson of the past week during the three days of the ceasefire.

A couple days of having any attempt at attack forcefully thwarted, a ceasefire that saw civilians able to safely leave, a couple of days where any movement drew swift and heavy fire, and now another ceasefire.

The first message is that it is pretty easy for the allied forces of Russia, Free Donetsk and Free Luhansk to keep the regime's forces from causing any more damage outside of the self imposed nightmare of the tunnels.

The second message is that, unlike the Kiev regime and its foreign backers, the allied trio keep to their side of an agreement.

The third message is that if the allied powers wanted to, they could end the standoff with overwhelming force.

And, taken together, it's a plea for the individual regime soldier to do the sane thing, surrender, or sacrifice themselves fighting for someone who already proved he is willing to betray his own people for his personal gain, no matter how much death and destruction that causes.

Richard Pearce - You may be the type to surrender if you ever have to fight for your country, and I am not blaming you because we all have to make our own decisions, but not everyone thinks like you. Some are willing to die for their country. Many already have on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides and it will likely be many more before we are through. This is war.

IOW, I may not be a fan of my country's current leadership, but if we were being invaded, that would not matter at all how hard I would fight for my nation, my state, my city, my neighborhood.

There is also the matter that death in battle may be preferable to whatever the Russians have in store for them if they surrender. Each soldier will make their own choice in the matter, and if they choose to die a free man, then I can't fault them for that.