Will Putin Keep his Word Not to Attack “Azovostal”?

by Olha Povaliaieva
Thursday, April 21, 2022
3 MIN
Will Putin Keep his Word Not to Attack “Azovostal”?

On April 21, during Shoigu's report on the situation and the plan for Mariupol, Putin ordered to cancel the assault on "Azovstal" and block the plant

We remind you that on April 19, a brutal assault on Azovstal began. 300-ton bombs were prepared to storm the plant. The horror is that there are Ukrainians in the cellars of Azovstal. There is no way to evacuate from there. As Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, now the entire remaining military force of the Russian Federation is concentrated in the east of Ukraine.

On April 21, defense minister Sergei Shoigu announced his plans to storm Azovstal. Based on the minister's words, the plant will be in the hands of Russia in 3-4 days. However, Putin ordered to postpone the assault. Dialogue between Shoigu and Putin:

- The report is finished.

- I consider the proposed storm of the industrial zone to be inappropriate. I order you to cancel.

- Yes.

- This is the case when we must think... that is, we must always think, but in this case, even more so, about saving the life and health of our soldiers and officers. There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground there for industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area so that the fly does not fly through.

One gets the impression that each of the organizers of the war against Ukraine is making their plans in a separate room behind a closed door. But it was Shoigu who was one of the narrow circle of people who made the decision to kill Ukraine.

“In the weeks since the invasion started, Putin’s circle of advisers and contacts has narrowed even further from the limited group of hardliners he’d regularly consulted before, according to two people. The decision to invade was made by Putin and just a handful of hawks including defense minister Sergei Shoigu, general staff chief Valery Gerasimov, and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s security council, these people said,” the Bloomberg. 

On the night of April 20-21, Ramzan Kadyrov published a message stating that Azovstal would be completely captured by the Russians on April 21.

“I want to share the good news with you. Tomorrow, or rather today, before lunch or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Everything is ready: the strategy is ready, the warriors are ready, we just need time. And that’s it,” Kadyrov.

Shoigu has 72 hours, Kadyrov has “everything ready”, and Putin generally orders the meat grinder to be turned off. Fragmentation in the headquarters of the leaders of the Ukrainian genocide is evident. Lots of food for thought.

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