Russian President Putin hails 'successful liberation' of Mariupol in Ukraine
India Today
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the 'successful liberation' of Mariupol in Ukraine on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, April 21, declared that Ukraine's Mariupol has been 'successfully liberated'. Putin has asked his troops to lay siege to the Azovstal steel plant instead of launching an assault on it.
President Vladimir Putin hailed Russia's "liberation" of Mariupol after his defence minister said that Moscow controls the city apart from the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers remain. "Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape," Putin said.
On Tuesday, Russia's defence minister had said their forces were "methodically carrying out" plans to "liberate" two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier in February, Russia had acknowledged the "independence" of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine. Soon after that, Putin's forces invaded Ukraine on February 24.
The coal- and steel-producing Donbas has been the focal point of Russia's campaign to destabilise Ukraine since 2014, when the Kremlin used proxies to set up separatist "people's republics" in Luhansk and Donetsk.
(With inputs from AFP and Reuters)
