Russia will fully capture Ukraine's Mariupol today, claims top Vladimir Putin aide
Zee News
Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by Russia since it invaded Ukraine eight weeks ago in an attack that has taken longer than some military analysts expected and seen over five million people flee abroad and turned cities into rubble.
MOSCOW: A top ally of President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces will seize the last main stronghold of resistance in the besieged city of Mariupol on Thursday after Ukraine proposed talks on evacuating troops and civilians there.
Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by Russia since it invaded Ukraine eight weeks ago in an attack that has taken longer than some military analysts expected and seen over five million people flee abroad and turned cities into rubble.
"Before lunchtime, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation," Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia`s republic of Chechnya, whose forces have been fighting in Ukraine, said of the steel plant.
Ukraine`s defence ministry was not immediately available for comment. Its general staff said in an early Thursday update that missile and bomb strikes continued across the country.
The southeastern port city of Mariupol has endured the fiercest fighting of the war as besieging Russian forces try to take full control. Its capture would be a big strategic prize and would link territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.
