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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his forces to blockade the last pockets of Ukrainian resistance at a steelworks in Mariupol “so that a fly cannot pass through”.
Mr Putin ordered his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to scrap plans to storm the Azovstal steel plant after being told there were more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters still holed up in its tunnels.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader whose forces are fighting in Ukraine, had predicted on Thursday the Azovstal plant would be under Russian control “before lunchtime, or after lunch”, completing the capture of Mariupol.
But Mr Putin, who described the rest of Mariupol as having been liberated by Russian troops, said in a televised exchange with Mr Shoigu that “there is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground” at the plant.
“I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary,” he said. "Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot not pass through."
The seizure of Mariupol would be Russia’s most significant strategic and symbolic victory of the eight-week war in Ukraine, giving it a land corridor between annexed Crimea and occupied territories in the eastern Donbas region.
Western officials say the protracted struggle for the port, which has prompted hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee, has tied up Russia’s troops and equipment and bogged down its wider offensive in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said about a thousand civilians were sheltering behind troops defending Mariupol. The two sides blamed each other for faltering efforts to establish humanitarian escape routes.
“Our warriors have hundreds of wounded,” said Mr Zelenskyy, who said the situation in Mariupol was deteriorating. “Protecting ordinary civilians with their backs, they lose their lives.”
Britain’s Defence Ministry said in a regular intelligence update that Russian forces were advancing on Kramatorsk, another city, from staging areas in the Donbas as it focuses its offensive on the south and east.
It said the speed and force of Russian attacks could intensify as it aims for a military and propaganda triumph by the time of the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow.
Mr Zelenskyy likewise said the situation in the south and east “remains as severe as possible” as Russia seeks “something they can feed their propagandists”.
Ukraine said Russia had lost 21,000 troops as of Thursday, as well as 830 tanks, 170 aircraft, 150 helicopters and scores of other vehicles and pieces of equipment.
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A sign that reads 'Children' is fixed on to a car windscreen riddled with bulletholes in Irpin, Ukraine. AFP -
A woman weeps next to her husband's coffin at a cemetery in Irpin. AFP -
Residents walk amid debris of a charred Russian tank next to destroyed houses in the village of Zalissya. AFP -
Volunteers distribute food to residents in Zalissya. AFP -
A man walks past a damaged apartment building in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
Tamara, 71, cries in front of a destroyed apartment building in Mariupol. Reuters -
Local residents push a cart with a child past destroyed buildings in Mariupol. Reuters -
A record player sits among debris inside an apartment in Mariupol. Reuters -
Residents carry belongings past a destroyed building in Mariupol. Reuters -
Security guards help an injured man following a Russian bombing of a factory in Kramatorsk. AP -
A man receives first aid treatment. AP -
Soldiers collect explosives after recent battles in the village of Moshchun, close to Kyiv. AP -
The Komodor logistics park lies in ruins after being bombed and burnt during the Russian invasion near Makarov. Getty Images -
A room in a kindergarten stands windowless in Makarov. Getty Images -
A vehicle draped with a Ukrainian flag passes over a war-damaged bridge in Makarov. Getty Images -
A man sits in a basement that was used as a bomb shelter in the village of Kukhari. EPA -
Local residents clean the area around a destroyed farm in Kukhari. EPA -
Nadia looks at her husband's coffin at a cemetery in Bucha. He was killed during the war. AFP -
Mangled buildings in Irpin point to the ravages of the ongoing war. Getty Images -
A burnt apartment tower in Irpin. Getty Images -
Family members grieve during the funeral of Ruslan Nechyporenko, 47, in Bucha. Getty Images -
An abandoned Russian military position in Borodyanka town near Kyiv. EPA -
Heavily pregnant Dr Marta Kopan, who fled Kyiv with her husband Dr Maxim Motsya and their three-year-old son Makar, narrates their ordeal at a relative's place in Lviv. AP -
A Ukrainian officer searches for unexploded explosives as he passes by an Antonov An-225, the world's biggest cargo aircraft, destroyed during the war on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
A woman stands amid the destruction caused when a civilian building was hit by a Russian missile in Lviv, western Ukraine. Getty Images -
Ukrainian soldiers on an armoured personnel carrier, near the front line with Russian troops, in Izyum district, Kharkiv region, north-eastern Ukraine. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees arrive at the Siret border crossing between Romania and Ukraine. AFP -
Ukranian soldiers in a trench look out across the front line near Kharkiv. AFP -
Cars destroyed in Russian attacks, in Irpin, near Kyiv. The scene of fierce fighting, the town was occupied by Russian forces. Reuters -
Damaged and destroyed vehicles at Illich Iron and Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists in besieged south-eastern city Mariupol. AP -
Russian military vehicles in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists near Mariupol. AP -
An elderly woman waits do be evacuated from a hospice in Chasiv Yar city, in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. At least 35 residents have been helped to flee from the region that has been under attack for weeks. AP -
A Ukrainian Interior Ministry serviceman collects unexploded shells, grenades and mines, following fierce fighting in Hostomel. AP
Moscow has acknowledged significant casualties and is believed by western officials to have turned to mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private company widely thought to have close links to the Kremlin.
One European official was quoted by The Guardian as saying between 10,000 and 20,000 fighters had been drafted in from Libya, Syria and other theatres where Wagner has a presence.
These troops were being used as infantry forces and did not bring heavy equipment or vehicles with them, the official said.
Russia, meanwhile, insists the invasion it calls a special military operation is running as planned despite setbacks such as its failure to overpower Kyiv and the loss of its Black Sea flagship Moskva.
The offensive will end when the aims of demilitarising and “de-Nazifying” Ukraine, eliminating threats to Russia and protecting the largely Russian-speaking population of the Donbas are achieved, foreign ministry official Alexey Polishchuk told Tass news agency.
Mr Zelenskyy said more than 900 towns in Ukraine had been recaptured from Russian forces, with local government and police restored to their posts in many of those settlements.
But he told people returning to their homes to watch out for mines and tripwires left behind by Russian forces and to wait for inspections by the Ukrainian authorities.
