Putin claims Mariupol victory, Ukraine fighters remain

Putin claims Mariupol victory, Ukraine fighters remain

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the war in Ukraine, declaring the port of Mariupol “liberated” after nearly two months of siege.

However, hundreds of fighters and civilians in dozens of bunkers were still holed up inside a huge steel works.

Mr Putin ordered his troops to blockade the complex “so that not even a fly” could escape.

The US State Department said it understands that Ukraine’s forces continue to “hold their ground” in Mariupol and Russian defence statements were “yet more disinformation”.

Ukraine said Moscow wanted to avoid a final clash with its forces in the city as it lacked the troops to defeat them.

In Washington, US President Joe Biden authorised a further $800 million (€737m) in military aid for Ukraine, including heavy artillery, as it faces a new Russian offensive in the east.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video addres sto the Portuguese parliament, begged Western nations to send more weapons and to impose more economic sanctions on Moscow.

“This is just the first step (for Russia) to gain control of eastern Europe, to destroy democracy in Ukraine,” he said.

“We are fighting not only for our independence, but for our survival, for our people so that they do not get killed, tortured and raped.”

He accused the Russian army of committing many atrocities in Ukraine, including in Mariupol.

Russia denies targeting civilians and rejects what Ukraine said is evidence of atrocities, saying Ukraine has staged them.

Moscow calls its incursion a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an illegal war of aggression.

Mariupol, once home to 400,000 people, has seen not only the most intense battle of the war that started when Russian forces invaded on 24 February but also its worst humanitarian catastrophe.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were cut off for nearly two months under Russian siege and bombardment.

Control of the city links territory held by separatists Russia backs in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region with Crimea, the peninsula Moscow seized in 2014.

Ukrainian fighters remained inside the Azovstal steel complex, one of the biggest metallurgical facilities in Europe. President Putin had told the defenders to lay down their weapons and surrender or die.

But in a televised meeting at the Kremlin today he congratulated Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian troops for having “successfully completed the combat effort to liberate Mariupol”.

He said it was unnecessary to storm the industrial zone and ordered such action to be cancelled.

“There’s no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities …Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can get through.”

President Zelensky said 120,000 civilians were still being blocked from leaving Mariupol.

Today, three school buses filled with evacuees from Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia after crossing through territory held by Russian forces, AFP journalists saw.

Women and children could be seen on the buses as they arrived after attempts to open a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol that has been delayed multiple times because of fierce fighting in southern Ukraine.

Journalists who reached Mariupol during the siege found streets littered with corpses, nearly all buildings destroyed and residents huddled freezing in cellars, venturing out to cook scraps on makeshift stoves or to bury bodies in gardens.

Ukraine estimates that tens of thousands of civilians have died in Mariupol, some buried in mass graves.

The United Nations and Red Cross say the civilian toll is at least in the thousands.

US President Joe Biden pledged to send dozens of howitzers, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and tactical drones to Ukraine.

“We’re in a critical window now of time where they’re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war,” he said.

The United States and allies were “moving as fast as possible” to provide Ukraine with the equipment and weapons it needs, he said.

After failing to capture the capital Kyiv last month and being forced to withdraw from northern Ukraine, Russian forces regrouped this week to launch a new offensive in the two eastern provinces known as the Donbas.

Ukraine said Russian forces had failed so far to completely capture Rubizhne, a Donbas town that has been a focus of their advance.

The city of Kharkiv, near the Russian supply lines into Donbas, came under heavy bombardment, its mayor said today.

A car was hit as it drove in a residential district. Health officials said two people were killed.

The city of Kharkiv, near the Russian supply lines into Donbas, came under heavy bombardment, its mayor said.

With both sides hoping for success on the battlefield in Donbas, peace talks have been shelved.

British military intelligence said Russian forces were keen to demonstrate significant success by 9 May, the anniversary of the allied victory in Europe in World War II when Russia’s military traditionally holds a spectacular parade on Red Square.