MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Ukrainian nationalists continue to block the humanitarian corridor in Mariupol, and there are no preconditions this tactic will change, Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Friday.
"We haven’t seen any signs yet that the nationalist battalions are letting civilians out of Mariupol. So far, terrorist tactics dominate the actions of the Azov battalions and others, which are concentrated within Ukraine’s armed formations in Mariupol," he said on the Rossiya-24 news channel.
Pushilin pointed out that the nationalist battalions were being mopped up in Mariupol’s Levoberezhny district. According to him, the operation is hampered by the fact that they concentrate forces in schools, kindergartens and residential buildings. Pushilin said that a humanitarian corridor had not been opened in Volnovakha, which the DPR forces took control of, in spite of an agreement to ensure it.
Pushilin touched upon peaceful life in the republic, saying that the DPR was taking proactive steps to support entrepreneurs and businesses. For example, tax payments have been postponed and a number of other measures are being taken, which will allow enterprises to survive until the end of hostilities.
On February 17, tensions escalated along the line of contact in Donbass. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics reported the most intense shelling by Ukraine in months. On February 24, Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure, therefore there are no threats to the civilian population.