Thread by @Nishtiblue

🇺🇦Kiev regime has not abandoned its attempts to evacuate the leaders of Azov nationalist regiment and foreign mercenaries from Mariupol
▫️Previous actions to evacuate them by helicopter have failed.

▫️On the evening of April 8, the Kiev regime made another unsuccessful attempt to evacuate the Ukrainian Nazi leaders by sea.
▫️The Ukrainian Apache, a Maltese-flagged dry-cargo ship assigned to the Maltese port of Valetta,

was sailing in a caravan of ships from the Gulf of Taganrog to the Kerch Strait in the nighttime.
▫️At 22:38 Moscow time, 30 km southeast of Mariupol, the dry-cargo ship suddenly changed its course and attempted to break through to the Mariupol seaport blocked from the sea by the

Black Sea Fleet.
▫️The Ukrainian dry-cargo ship did not respond to Russian border guards' demands to contact them through the international channel and continued heading in the direction of port.
▫️Warning artillery firing by two border patrol ships along the vessel's course

did not cause the dry cargo ship to change course or slow down.
▫️While heading towards Mariupol port, the ship was engaged in radio communication, transmitting the messages "I am 'Maniac', coming for you". At the same time, signal fires were observed on the shore.

▫️To block the movement of the intruder vessel, from 22.53 to 23.30, the Black Sea Fleet and the border patrol ships opened artillery fire on the Apache dry-cargo ship.
▫️A direct hit caused a fire in the stern of the ship.

▫️The Ukrainian dry-cargo ship then went adrift, the crew got in touch with the border ships with a request to cease fire and confirmed their readiness to comply with all the demands of the Russian sailors.
▫️No crew members on the ship were injured as a result of the firing.

The fire was extinguished by the ship's crew themselves.

▫️After being inspected, the Ukrainian Apache and its crew are convoyed to the Yeysk port.

📑 Full text of the Russian Defence Ministry Briefing

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #Briefing #Mariupol
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