Moscow. April 9th. INTERFAX - On April 8, Russian ships opened fire on the Ukrainian cargo ship Apache, which was trying to enter the port of Mariupol to evacuate the leadership of the Azov battalion, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
The cargo ship, which was sailing under the flag of Malta, did not respond to warnings, Russian border ships and a ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation opened fire on it, Konashenkov said.
"As a result of the fire impact, there are no casualties among the crew members on the ship. By the forces of the ship's crew, the fire was extinguished independently. After the inspection, the Ukrainian cargo ship Apache with its crew is escorted to the port of Yeysk," Konashenkov said.
According to him, the Ukrainian authorities, after unsuccessful attempts to evacuate the leadership of Azov by helicopters on April 8, decided to attempt evacuation from the sea.
Also, Konashenkov said, this vessel was supposed to evacuate foreign mercenaries from Mariupol.
"At night, the Ukrainian cargo ship Apache, assigned to the Maltese port of Valletta, was traveling under the Maltese flag in a caravan of ships from the Taganrog Bay to the Kerch Strait. At 22:38 Moscow time, 30 km south-east of Mariupol, the cargo ship abruptly changed course and tried to break into the Mariupol seaport blocked from the sea by the forces of the Black Sea Fleet," the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"The Ukrainian cargo ship did not respond to the demands of the Russian border ships to get in touch via the international channel, continuing to move towards the port of Mariupol," Konashenkov said.
"The warning artillery firing carried out by two border patrol ships on the ship's course did not lead to a change in course and a slowdown in the speed of the bulk carrier," he said.
Konashenkov noted that during the movement to the port of Mariupol, the ship conducted radio exchange, signal fires were observed on the shore.
"In order to block the movement of the offending vessel from 22:53 to 23:30, the ship of the Black Sea Fleet and border patrol ships opened artillery fire on the Apache cargo ship," the representative of the Russian Defense Ministry said.
According to him, as a result of a direct hit on the ship, there was a fire in the aft part.
"After that, the Ukrainian cargo ship drifted, the crew contacted the border ships with a request to cease fire and confirmed their readiness to fulfill all the requirements of the Russian sailors," Konashenkov said.
On March 31, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an attempt by the Ukrainian authorities to evacuate the Azov commanders from Mariupol with two Mi-8 helicopters, both were shot down by the forces of the Donetsk People's Republic.
On March 28, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down near Mariupol, five kilometers from the coastline over the Sea of Azov, heading for the evacuation of the Azov commanders, Konashenkov reported.
It was reported that the Ukrainian battalion "Azov" is fighting in Mariupol.
On April 4, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation suggested that the Ukrainian military in Mariupol "lay down their arms and go out along the route agreed with the Ukrainian side in the Zaporozhye direction to the territories controlled by Kiev."
On April 5, Konashenkov said that "taking into account Kiev's disinterest in saving the lives of its servicemen, Mariupol will be liberated by units of the Russian armed forces and the Donetsk People's Republic."
Mariupol is located on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, it is one of the largest commercial sea ports in Ukraine. Almost 500 thousand people lived in the city. On March 21, the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mizintsev, said that more than 130 thousand residents remain in Mariupol.
The Russian military previously reported fighting in the center of Mariupol. On March 11, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the narrowing of the encirclement ring around Mariupol by DPR units. Before that, the Russian military reported taking control of a number of neighborhoods.
On February 24, the President of the Russian Federation announced the beginning of a special military operation in Ukraine.
