Kyiv: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared that Russian forces have “liberated” Mariupol and ordered his forces to hold back from storming the Azovstal steel plant, Western media reported on Thursday.
The Russian President described a plan to storm the Azovstal steelworks as “impractical” and called instead for Russian troops to blockade the area “so that a fly can’t get through”.
Putin told his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that the plant — a sprawling complex which is among the last significant holdouts for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol — should be sealed and those inside should once again be offered the chance to surrender in exchange for their lives and a “dignified treatment,” reports CNN.
The plant is currently sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians. According to The Guardian, the declaration came during a meeting at the Kremlin where Defence Minister Shoigu presented a report to Putin about the closely watched battle for the Ukrainian port city and claimed that the city had been “liberated” although fighting was ongoing.
He said it would take several more days for the Russians to defeat the Ukrainians fighting at the steelworks, a sprawling mass of tunnels and workshops spread over four square miles in the south-east of the city. Ukrainian officials, however, denied that the southeastern city has fallen to Russia.
