Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by Russia since invading Ukraine eight weeks ago.
A top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces will seize the last main stronghold of resistance in the besieged city of Mariupol on Thursday, April 21, after Ukraine proposed talks on evacuating troops and civilians there.
A Ukrainian marine commander, Serhiy Volny, said fighters at the steel works may not be able to hold out for much longer. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said an estimated 1,000 civilians are sheltering there. Fighters remain holed up in the plant and have ignored an ultimatum by Russia to surrender. Fewer civilians than hoped left on Wednesday.
Putin said a first test launch on Wednesday of Russia’s Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new and long-awaited addition to its nuclear arsenal, would “provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country.” The West has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia and Washington went further on Wednesday, slapping restrictions on dozens of people and entities including a commercial bank.Mariupol, once a prosperous seaside city of 400,000, is now a wasteland where corpses lie in the streets as Russia slams the Azovstal steel plant with bunker-buster bombs, the government in Kyiv said.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of failing to observe a local ceasefire agreement long enough to allow large numbers of people to leave. Russia did not immediately respond to the allegation.
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