Kyiv (Ukraine):
On the 53rd day of its war against Ukraine, the Russian army has claimed complete control of the strategically important city of Mariupol. The Defense Ministry of Russia has given time to surrender to the Ukrainian soldiers till 6 in the morning according to Moscow time.
Russia has said that surrendered Ukrainian soldiers will be pardoned. Russia claimed that these soldiers also include foreign fighters. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Zelensky has said that the Russian army is vandalizing Mariupol.
Zelensky has said that Mariupol’s future will be decided either through war or diplomacy. He called on NATO countries to immediately provide all necessary heavy weapons and aircraft so that we can act and pressure the Russian soldiers who block the Mariupol.
Meanwhile, Russia has said that its troops have seized the port city of Mariupol from Ukrainian troops. Now a small group of Ukrainian soldiers is left in a steel factory.
‘Ukrainian soldiers surrounded the area of Azovstal plant’
This claim of Russia could not be independently verified yet. If Russia’s claim is true, then Mariupol will be the first major city in Ukraine to be captured by Russian forces in the war that began on February 24.
Igor Konashenkov, the chief spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry, said, “All the urban areas of Mariupol have now been evacuated. The remaining Ukrainian troops have been surrounded in the area of the Ajovstal plant.”
Igor said, “Now they have only one option to escape and that is to surrender themselves with their weapons.”
He claimed that 1464 soldiers of Ukraine have surrendered so far. Meanwhile, Russian troops in Mariupol have closed all entry and exit points to the city and restricted movement since Monday to carry out an “infiltration” campaign among the city’s male population, some of whom were killed.
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