Putin Wants Azovstal Factory as Trophy on May 9, Says Kyiv

According to the Ukrainian government, Russia plans to capture the heavily besieged Azov stable factory in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol by Monday.

 

Oleksi Arestovych, a counsellor to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, said Thursday evening. On May 9, Russia will celebrate the 77th anniversary of the victory over Adolf Hitler’s Germany in World War II.

“The most beautiful gift for a ruler is his adversary’s head. I clearly see the ambition to conquer Azovstal and give Putin the ‘victory’ by May 9,” Ukraine’s Unian news agency quoted Arestovych as saying.

“They really want that, but let’s see if they can do it,” he added.

The last Ukrainian resistance troops shelter in Mariupol in the Azov stable factory. A major military parade is planned in Moscow on Monday to commemorate the victory in World War II.

Russia is also said to be preparing a parade in Mariupol. Mariupol will become a centre of Russian festivities. The city’s main avenues are being cleared, rubble and bodies of the dead are being removed, and unexploded ordnance,” said Ukraine’s Chief Military Intelligence Directorate (GOER).