Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the war in Ukraine on Thursday, declaring the port of Mariupol “liberated” after nearly two months of siege although hundreds of defenders were still holed up inside a steel works.
Ukraine on Wednesday proposed to hold a “special round’ of negotiations with Russia in the besieged city of Mariupol. “Yes. Without any conditions. We’re ready to hold a ‘special round of negotiations’ right in Mariupol,” top Ukraine negotiator and presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. But the nation derided Putin’s attempt to avoid a final clash with its forces in the city as an acknowledgment that he lacked the troops to defeat them.
In Washington, US President Joe Biden authorised a further $800 million in military aid for Ukraine, including heavy artillery.
Facing the prospect of a longer and deadlier standoff, Putin ordered Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to call off the storming of the Azovstal steel works, saying it would save the lives of Russian troops. “Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape,” he said, calling on remaining Ukrainian troops at the plant to surrender.
Around 100,000 civilians are now in Mariupol, including between 300 and 1,000 hiding in bunkers in Azovstal, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said. The city links territory held by separatists Russia backs in Donbas with Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014.
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