CHANGE.ORG

Jean-François LEFEBVRE

Frankreich

1. MAI 2022 —

The Russian army killed more than 22,000 civilians in Mariupol and razed almost 80% of the buildings. A city of half a million people has been completely destroyed. On a larger scale, Putin is conducting a genocide against the Ukrainian people, which the Russians call “Denazification”. This so-called “denazification” is in reality a de-Ukrainianisation, which consists of forcing Ukrainian civilians to become Russian and liquidating all those who oppose it.

To this day, there are still 100,000 civilians trapped in Mariupol and 1,000 to 2,000 of them have taken refuge in the basement of Azovstal, in order to escape the Russian bombing and to benefit from protection by the Ukrainian military. Among the civilian refugees in Azovstal, there are even Jews who fled the so-called “denazification” and want to defend their land against the Russian aggressor.

The Russians practice bad faith and regularly sabotage the humanitarian corridors, which must necessarily pass through occupied areas. UN evacuation plans are doomed to failure because Putin has no respect for the UN and its work. The UN has not been able to stop this war and Kyiv was even bombed during the visit of Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General.
For this reason, we humbly ask the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain and all other states with navy capacity to organise the exfiltration of civilians and the Mariupol garrison through the Sea of Azov, without seeking the Kremlin’s agreement.

One or more states could send a fleet of transport ships escorted by warships across the Kerch Strait to Mariupol. According to Articles 37 and 38 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), all ships have a right of transit through the Kerch Strait and Russia cannot prohibit it. Moreover, Article 32 of this Convention reminds that warships and other state vessels used for non-commercial purposes enjoy immunity. Under these conditions, states with navy capacity are able to evacuate the inhabitants of Mariupol and its garrison.