DPR: Mariupol is fully encircled

The Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a port city on the Azov Sea and a major industrial hub, has been completely surrounded by pro-Russian forces, which have launched an operation to clean up city districts, a senior officer of the Donetsk People’s Republic forces, Alexander Semenov, told Sputnik on Monday.

"Mariupol as of today is completely surrounded, the cleaning up of certain districts of the city has started," he said.

The Russian interagency coordination center on humanitarian response, on Sunday, reported that more than 163,000 people, including 42,729 children, were evacuated from areas where Russia was conducting its operation in Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense also accused Kiev of not fulfilling its commitments regarding organizing humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of residents from Mariupol.

Read more: Ukrainian Azov shoots civilians during Mariupol evacuation, kills two

Earlier that day, another attempt was made to evacuate civilians from Mariupol; in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Putin accused Ukraine of not adhering to the ceasefire agreements.

"Russia created all conditions for setting up a humanitarian corridor. We have to conclude that the Ukrainian side did not fulfill its obligations," the Ministry said in a statement.

Russia had for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders and batches of lethal weapons being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees.

After the West did not respond to Russia's demands, and amid Ukrainian shelling on the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, President Vladimir Putin initiated a special military operation in Donbass.

Read more: Ukrainian Azov shoots civilians during Mariupol evacuation, kills two

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