- The battle of Mariupol is the greatest battle of the war
- Putin says Russia has “liberated” the city
- The United States will send newly developed Ghost drones to Ukraine
Kyiv, April 22 (Reuters) – Ukrainian fighters adhered to their latest redoubt in Mariupol on Friday after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the biggest battle of the war, declaring the port city “liberated” after weeks of relentless bombing.
However, the United States has challenged Putin’s claim, saying it believes Ukrainian forces still hold positions in the city. Putin has ordered his troops to block a giant steel mine where Ukrainians are being held after refusing an ultimatum to surrender or die.
Ukraine has said Putin wants to avoid a final clash with its forces in Mariupol because he lacks the troops to defeat them. But Ukrainian authorities have also called for help in evacuating civilians and wounded soldiers.
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At a televised meeting in the Kremlin, Putin congratulated his defense minister and Russian troops on “fighting efforts to liberate Mariupol” and said it was not necessary to storm the industrial zone containing the Azovstal steel plant.
“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities … Block this industrial zone so that even a fly cannot pass through it,” Putin said.
Mariupol, a major port in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass, lies between Russian separatist-held areas and Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula conquered by Moscow in 2014. Taking over the city would allow Russia to link the two areas. Read more
Even as Putin claims his first grand prize since his forces were expelled from the capital, Kyiv and northern Ukraine, last month, this is not enough for the unequivocal victory Moscow is seeking after months of fighting in a ruined city.
In a late-night address, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said Russia was doing everything possible “to talk about at least some victories”, including mobilizing new battalion tactical groups.
“They can only postpone the inevitable – the time when the invaders will have to leave our territory, including from Mariupol, a city that continues to resist Russia, no matter what the occupiers say,” Zelensky said.
The steel complex is one of the largest metallurgical facilities in Europe, covering 11 square kilometers with huge buildings, underground bunkers and tunnels.
British military intelligence says a full Russian attack on the plant is likely to mean heavy Russian casualties, and Putin’s decision to block it will free up forces elsewhere in the east.
Russia has stepped up attacks in eastern Ukraine this week, striking long-range strikes at other targets, including Kyiv and the western city of Lviv.
The General Staff of Ukraine said that Russian forces have intensified attacks along the entire front line to the east and are trying to organize an offensive in the Kharkiv region to the northeast.
British military intelligence also reported heavy fighting in the east as Russian forces tried to advance on the settlements, but said they were suffering losses at the start of the war and were sending equipment back to Russia for repairs.
Russia calls its invasion a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denationalize” Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies have dismissed this as a false pretext for a war that killed thousands and uprooted a quarter of Ukraine’s population.
The United States authorized another $ 800 million in military aid to Ukraine on Thursday, including heavy artillery and recently discovered Ghost drones, which were destroyed after attacking its targets. Read more
“We are currently in a critical period of time when they will prepare the stage for the next phase of this war,” said US President Joe Biden.
Asked about Putin’s declaration of victory in Mariupol, State Department spokesman Ned Price said it was “even more misinformation from their well-worn book”.
Mariupol, once home to 400,000 people, has seen not only the most intense battle of the war, which began with the invasion of Russian forces on February 24, but also its worst humanitarian catastrophe.
Ukraine estimates that tens of thousands of civilians have died there. The United Nations and the Red Cross say there are at least thousands civilian casualties.
Journalists who reached Mariupol during the siege found streets littered with corpses, almost all buildings destroyed, and residents huddled in basements daring to cook leftovers or bury bodies in gardens.
Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko told Reuters that Putin could only decide the fate of 100,000 civilians trapped in the city.
“The lives that are still there are in the hands of only one person – Vladimir Putin. And all the deaths that will happen after that will also be in his hands,” Boychenko said in an interview. Read more
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers should be removed from the plant immediately, blaming Russian forces for failing to create a safe corridor she said had been agreed.
Russia claims to have received 140,000 civilians from Mariupol in a humanitarian evacuation. Ukraine says some have been deported by force, which would be a war crime.
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Report by Reuters journalists; Writing by Stephen Coates, Robert Bircell; Edited by Himani Sarkar and Kim Coghill
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.
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