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A woman walks past a burning apartment building after shelling in Mariupol. PA

Refugees fleeing Mariupol tell of street battles and bodies lying in the street

As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 27th day, the conflict is showing no signs of abating.

LAST UPDATE | 31 Dec 1899

CIVILIANS MAKING THE dangerous escape from Ukraine’s embattled southern port of Mariupol described fleeing through street-to-street gun battles and past unburied corpses as a steady Russian bombardment tried to pound the city into submission.

While Russian forces carried on with the siege after the city’s defenders refused demands to surrender, the Kremlin’s ground offensive in other parts of the country advanced slowly or not at all, knocked back by lethal hit-and-run attacks by the Ukrainians.

The Ukrainian army this morning said that it had forced Russian troops out of a strategically important Kyiv suburb following a fierce battle.

The regained territory allowed Ukrainian forces to retake control of a key highway to the west and block Russian troops from surrounding Kyiv from the northwest.

embedded265985785 A man Slava Chikov covers the shattered window of his living room after a Russian artillery bombardment in Kyiv . PA PA

But Ukraine’s defence ministry said Russian forces battling toward Kyiv were able to partially take other northwest suburbs, Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, some of which had been under attack almost since Russia’s military invaded late last month.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s forces are increasingly concentrating their air power and artillery on Ukraine’s cities and the civilians living there, killing unknown and sending millions fleeing.

A senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the military’s assessment, said Russia had increased air sorties over the past two days, carrying out as many as 300 in the past 24 hours, and has fired more than 1,100 missiles into Ukraine since the invasion began.

In a video address last night, Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, hailed those who have fought back against Russia.

“There is no need to organise resistance,” Zelenskyy said. “Resistance for Ukrainians is part of their soul.”f

Zelenskyy also said he is prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek Nato membership in exchange for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine’s security.

“It’s a compromise for everyone: for the West, which doesn’t know what to do with us with regard to Nato, for Ukraine, which wants security guarantees, and for Russia, which doesn’t want further Nato expansion,” Zelenskyy said last night in an interview with Ukrainian television channels.

He also repeated his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Unless he meets with Putin, it is impossible to understand whether Russia even wants to stop the war, Zelenskyy said.

He said Kyiv will be ready to discuss the status of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region held by Russian-backed separatists after a cease-fire and steps toward providing security guarantees.

Attack on theatre

In Mariupol, with communications crippled, movement restricted and many residents in hiding, the fate of those inside an art school flattened on Sunday and a theatre that was blown apart four days earlier was unclear.

More than 1,300 people were believed to be sheltering in the theatre, and 400 were estimated to have been in the art school.

Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol has been a key target that has been besieged for more than three weeks and has seen some of the worst suffering of the war.

But no clear, independent picture emerged of how close its capture might be. Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that their forces were still defending the city and had destroyed a Russian patrol boat and electronic warfare complex.

Russia, for now, controls the land corridor from Crimea, the peninsula it annexed in 2014, and is blocking Ukraine’s access to the Sea of Azov, the ministry said.

“Nobody can tell from the outside if it really is on the verge of being taken,” said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at the British think tank, Chatham House.

Food, water and electricity supplies

Over the weekend, Moscow had offered safe passage out of Mariupol: one corridor leading east to Russia, another going west to other parts of Ukraine, in return for the city’s surrender before daybreak Monday. Ukraine flatly rejected the offer well before the deadline.

Mariupol officials said on March 15 that at least 2,300 people had died in the siege, with some buried in mass graves. There has been no official estimate since then, but the number is feared to be far higher after six more days of bombardment.

For those who remain, conditions have become brutal. The assault has cut off Mariupol’s electricity, water and food supplies and severed communication with the outside world, plunging residents into a fight for survival. Fresh commercial satellite images showed smoke rising from buildings newly hit by Russian artillery.

Mariupol had a pre-war population of about 430,000. Around a quarter were believed to have left in the opening days of the war, and tens of thousands escaped over the past week by way of the humanitarian corridors. Other attempts have been thwarted by the fighting.

Those who have made it out of Mariupol told of a devastated city.

“There are no buildings there anymore,” said 77-year-old Maria Fiodorova, who crossed the border to Poland on Monday after five days of travel.

Olga Nikitina, who fled Mariupol for the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where she arrived on Sunday, said gunfire blew out her windows, and her apartment dropped below freezing.

“Battles took place over every street. Every house became a target,” she said.

A long line of vehicles stood on a road in Bezimenne as Mariupol residents sought shelter at a temporary camp set up by Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk region.

An estimated 5,000 people from Mariupol have taken refuge in the camp. Many arrived in cars with signs that said “children” in Russian.

A woman who gave her name as Yulia said she and her family sought shelter in Bezimenne after a bombing destroyed six houses behind her home.

“That’s why we got in the car, at our own risk, and left in 15 minutes because everything is destroyed there, dead bodies are lying around,” she said. “They don’t let us pass through everywhere — there are shootings.”

In all, more than 8,000 people escaped to safer areas on Monday through humanitarian corridors, including about 3,000 from Mariupol, deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said.

Russian shelling of a corridor wounded four children on a route leading out of Mariupol, Zelenskyy said.

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    Mute Gavin Linden
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    Mar 10th 2022, 11:08 PM

    Why do the journal not name the tramps that have been charged with the vicious assault on Tom Niland?

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    Mute OConnelj
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    Mar 11th 2022, 6:22 AM

    @Gavin Linden: they will be named soon enough.

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    Mute Gavin Linden
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    Mar 11th 2022, 7:06 AM

    @OConnelj: They are named every where else though.

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    Mute OConnelj
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    Mar 11th 2022, 7:13 AM

    @Gavin Linden: I didn’t know that Gavin, I haven’t looked.

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    Mute OConnelj
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    Mar 11th 2022, 7:16 AM

    @OConnelj: when you say “everywhere else” do you mean reputable news sources or some posts on social media?

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    Mute Shaner Mac
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    Mar 11th 2022, 8:05 AM

    @OConnelj: RTÉ have named them on their site

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Mar 11th 2022, 12:37 PM

    @Gavin Linden: they are named in the article about them

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Mar 11th 2022, 6:51 AM

    In all honesty, though, who gives rice milk to children and thinks it’s a healthy choice?

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    Mute Longlin
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    Mar 11th 2022, 7:03 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: It’s scary that they even have to tell people this, but I remember some poor Belgian child dying a few years ago cause their vegan parents somehow thought it was a good idea to wean them on to the like of this. Remember this is a world where they need to put warnings on microwave manuals, to not put animals in them.

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    Mute Rmaybe
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    Mar 11th 2022, 8:07 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: people who’s children have an intolerance to diary which is very common. The problem is people try alternatives without consulting a nutritionist. Probably due to the expense.

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    Mute Yvonne Croke
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    Mar 11th 2022, 8:37 AM

    @Rmaybe: goats milk is a safe alternative, the makeup of goats milk is the nearest of all milks to breast milk.

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Mar 10th 2022, 10:53 PM

    The world is gone mad isn’t it?

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    Mute Dearbhla O Reilly
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    Mar 10th 2022, 11:00 PM

    @Paul Gorry: is it though? Was it always? And now we are of an age to see it for what it really is?

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Mar 10th 2022, 11:37 PM

    @Dearbhla O Reilly: caps of to you Dearbhla very fair point.

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    Mute Susan McMahon
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    Mar 11th 2022, 2:58 AM

    Cows milk is for calves. I’ll take my chances with arsenic atm

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    Mute Ivan Connolly
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    Mar 11th 2022, 5:55 AM

    @Susan McMahon: cows milk may be for calves but if you think drinking something natural like that is wrong how to you reconcile drinking milk from rice. Rice! Surely something that can only exist as a result of an industrial manufacturing process can’t be better than drinking cows milk? Does your cat feel the same way? I mean how do you even milk rice? Their nipples must be tiny.

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    Mute DERRY1973
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    Mar 11th 2022, 6:41 AM

    @Susan McMahon: I’m sure you drank your fair share of milk when you were young, so if it’s only for calves, that would make you a cow now.

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    Mute james spice
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    Mar 11th 2022, 7:55 AM

    @Susan McMahon: cows milk is for calves. Correct. There is no evidence to show that cows milk is harmful for humans. Also correct

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    Mute Stephen Deegan
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    Mar 11th 2022, 10:15 AM

    @Susan McMahon: It’s been good enough for humans for the last 10,000 years. So much so that we’ve almost lost our adult lactose intolerance that other mammals keep. Now that’s progress!

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    Mute Juniper
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    Mar 11th 2022, 11:14 AM

    @Ivan Connolly: Cats have lactose intolerance. Even though they may enjoy the odd plate of milk, they tend to have nasty diarrhoea afterwards.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Mar 11th 2022, 3:23 PM

    @Susan McMahon: Thats not what the article is about, it about possibly poisoning children with oat extract.

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    Mute Gerrard
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    Mar 11th 2022, 9:45 AM

    Vegan warriors trying to push their way on us .. if I want a sizzling steak with cheese and a big pint of milk I will have it so pipe down . 95% of the country like it that way

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Mar 11th 2022, 12:34 PM

    @Gerrard: who are you telling to pipe down? Reading through the comments it doesn’t look like anyone is trying to dictate to you.

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Mar 11th 2022, 8:16 AM

    This got a mention on Joe Duffy yesterday as a viable alternative.

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    Mute Juniper
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    Mar 11th 2022, 11:15 AM

    @Pat Barry: As part of a balanced diet, rice milk can be fine. As a substitute for infant formula or breast milk – not so much.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Mar 11th 2022, 3:32 PM

    Rice extract can be a usual diet supplement. It is not milk, nr is any of the other overly prices “milks” being sold. It is extract from nuts.
    The arrogance of people to decide to feed a child a substance that can kill the child due to their beliefs is frightening.
    Not surprising as there are plenty of anti vaxers out there.
    As for vegans, fine if you want to be one, off you go. Just please do not hold a high and mighty attitude and lecture us. Who choose not to be. I respect your decision, not respect mine. I dont want to be told that I am eating a baby, when eating meat. I am eating a farm animal. Possibly a young farm animal. Not a baby. Besides all you do is make me more determined to eat more meat. I try and eat as much free range and ethically farmed meat as possible. It is not always possible on a pension. I am not a middle class professional earning good money.

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