According to him, Turkey had previously begged Russia to release civilians in Mariupol, a country which Russia does not want to spoil relations with, as well as the Chinese leadership, because there were about 360 Chinese students in the city at the beginning of the war.
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"They asked to release people, but as a result they had to be taken out not separately, but among the refugees. There were also Turkish students there", he said.
The adviser to the head of the President's Office stressed that the requests to release civilians in Mariupol were joined by international organizations, the leadership of the world's leading countries, the leadership of churches and more.
"Here we need to understand that Russians want to demonstratively punish Mariupol. They want us to have a huge tragedy, to be psychologically damaged in negotiations, and to lose the will to resist", he said.
The adviser to the head of the President's Office added that the city retains the will to resist, destroys the enemy, so Ukraine will not be broken. Therefore, it is already about revenge.
"It is reminiscent of the fate of Syrian Aleppo, a city that they ostensibly destroyed and then threatened other cities with this example. But they destroyed Aleppo in a year and a half, and Ukrainian Mariupol in a month and a half. And this is racism in its purest form, there is no other explanation", – Arestovych summed up.