(UTV | UKRAINE) – Elsewhere, the mayor of Mariupol has issued a new appeal on Friday for the “full evacuation” of the southern city which President Vladimir Putin says is now mostly controlled by Russian forces.
“We need only one thing – the full evacuation of the population. About 100,000 people remain in Mariupol,” Mayor Vadym Boychenko said.
On Thursday, Putin ordered his troops to seal off a last group of fighters holed up in steel works in the south-east of the city.
We have spoken to one of the last Ukrainian defenders at the Azovstal plant. Mariupol has endured two months of heavy bombardment and severe deprivation as Russia cut off food, water and energy supplies.