While Russia claims victory in Mariupol, observers say Putin won't stop there

For two weeks, as bombs and artillery rained down on the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Natalia Kharabuga huddled in a basement with her two daughters and 100 others.

All they could do was sit and listen while their neighbourhoods were destroyed under near-constant bombardment. 

Some of those sheltering with Kharabuga clutched shovels in case the entire building collapsed and they had to frantically dig people out. 

There was no heat. No electricity. No water. 

When Kharabuga and others were forced to emerge from the underground to try and find water, she saw a city in ruin, surrounded by death. 

"Everything was torched… there were bodies everywhere," the 42-year-old told CBC News in Riga, Latvia, where she arrived earlier this month after a harrowing 11-day journey out of Ukraine. 

Kharabuga spoke on Thursday, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his minister of defence, Sergei Shoigu, on state television for a successful military operation, saying Mariupol had been "liberated."

"This is tyranny," Kharabuga said in response. "What is he congratulating him for? There is nothing left."

A city of 400,000 on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol is strategically important. The weeks-long bombardment has been devastating and killed thousands. 

Images on social media show Russians flags, as well as flags from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic being hoisted in the city, while others show Chechen fighters, who are aligned with Russia, celebrating in front of rubble. 

After weeks of mounting losses and slow progress in capturing Ukrainian territory, Russia is keen to proclaim a military win. Now, with its troops surrounding Mariupol, there is increasing talk about Russia's goal to take the south coast of Ukraine in order to create a land bridge to Crimea.

The Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, is connected to the country by a bridge over the Kerch Strait. If Russia controlled Ukraine's coastline, Crimea would be connected to territories Russian-backed forces occupy in Ukraine's east. 

On Friday, the commander of Russia's Central Military District, Rustam Minnekaev, confirmed this. Minnekaev was quoted in state media saying that one of Russia's goals is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine in order to create a land corridor to Crimea. 

Minnekaev said it would not only give Russia influence over Ukraine's economy, but provide an opportunity for the military to access Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria. Minnekaev said Russian speakers there were being oppressed.