Kyiv, Ukraine –
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the battle of Mariupol on Thursday, even as he ordered his troops not to take the risk of storming the giant steel mine where the city’s last Ukrainian defenders were hiding.
Instead, he directed his efforts to close the Azovstal plant “so that not a fly will pass.”
After nearly two deadly months of bombing that have largely turned Mariupol into a smoldering ruin, Russian forces appear to control the rest of the strategic southern city, including its vital but now badly damaged port. But Ukrainian troops stubbornly resist.
But 2,000 Ukrainian troops, according to Moscow’s estimates, have persisted for weeks in the scattered plant, despite strikes by Russian forces and repeated demands for their surrender. About 1,000 civilians were also trapped, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Instead of sending troops to finish off the defenders in a potentially bloody frontal attack, Russia apparently intends to maintain the siege and wait for the fighters to surrender when they run out of food or ammunition.
Mayor Vadim Boychenko rejected any opinion that Mariupol had fallen into Russian hands.
“The city was, is and remains Ukrainian,” he said. “Today, our brave warriors, our heroes, are defending our city.
Putin’s comments came after satellite images showed more than 200 new graves in a city where Ukrainian authorities say Russians are burying Mariupol residents killed in the fighting. Images from Maxar Technologies show long rows of graves stretching far from an existing cemetery in the town of Manchus, outside Mariupol.
Boychenko accused the Russians of “hiding their war crimes” by taking the bodies of civilians from the city and burying them in Manchush.
The capture of Mariupol would be the Kremlin’s biggest victory since the war in Ukraine. This will help Moscow secure more of the coastline, complete the land bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula that Russia seized in 2014, and free up more forces to join the larger, potentially more a successive battle now being fought over Ukraine’s eastern industrial center, known as Donbass.
Speaking jointly with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin said: “Completion of the military work on the liberation of Mariupol is successful” and congratulated Shoigu.
Shoigu said the steel plant could be taken over in three to four days, but Putin said it would be “pointless”, expressing concern for the lives of Russian soldiers.
“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities,” Putin said. “Block this industrial zone so that not even a fly can penetrate.”
The plant covers 11 square kilometers (4 square miles) and is covered with about 24 kilometers (15 miles) of tunnels and bunkers.
“Russia’s program now is not to take over these really difficult places where Ukrainians can stay in urban centers, but to try to take over territory, as well as to encircle Ukrainian forces and declare a huge victory,” retired British Rear Admiral Chris said. Money.
For weeks, Russian authorities have claimed that the capture of the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbass was the main goal of the war. Moscow forces have opened a new phase of fighting this week on a 300-mile (480-kilometer) front from the northeastern city of Kharkov to the Sea of Azov.
As Russia continues heavy air and artillery attacks in those areas, it does not appear to have gained significant positions in the past few days, according to military analysts, who say Moscow’s forces are still stepping up the offensive.
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment, said Ukrainians were hindering Russian efforts to push south of Izyum.
The rockets hit a neighborhood in Kharkiv on Thursday, killing at least two civilians in their car. A school and a residential building were also damaged, and firefighters tried to put out the fire and search for those trapped.
Western nations, meanwhile, have rushed to dump heavy weapons on Ukraine to help it resist the offensive in the east.
US President Joe Biden has announced additional $ 800 million in military aid, including heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and drones.
But he also warned that the $ 13.6 billion approved by the US Congress last month for military and humanitarian aid was “almost exhausted” and more would be needed.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 people are trapped with little or no food, water, heat or medicine in Mariupol, which had a pre-war population of about 430,000.
The city has attracted worldwide attention as a scene of some of the worst suffering of the war, including deadly air strikes on a maternity hospital and theater.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of launching attacks to block the evacuation of civilians from the city. On Thursday, at least two Russian attacks hit the city of Zaporozhye, an intermediate station for people fleeing Mariupol, although no one was injured, the district governor said.
Britain’s defense ministry says Russia probably wants to show significant success ahead of Victory Day on May 9, the proudest day in Russia’s calendar of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II.
“This could affect how quickly and violently they try to carry out operations on the eve of this date,” the ministry said.
In the ongoing war of sanctions and counter-sanctions between Russia and the West, Moscow has announced it has banned US Vice President Kamala Harris, technology billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and 27 other prominent Americans, including foreign commentators, from entering Russia.
The move is a response to “growing anti-Russian sanctions” from the Biden administration, the ministry said in a statement, aimed at people who it said formed a “Russophobic narrative.”
Similar restrictions were imposed on 61 Canadians.
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Associated Press journalists Mstislav Chernov and Felipe Dana in Kharkiv, Ukraine; Yesica Fisch in Kramatorsk, Ukraine; Danica Kirk in London; and Robert Burns and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report, as did other PA officials around the world.
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