Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced the “successful liberation” of Mariupol in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday, April 21, that Mariupol of Ukraine has been ‘successfully freed’. However, Putin has told his troops not to attack the Azovstal steel plant, the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the city, but to block it so that no one can escape.
President Vladimir Putin hailed Russia’s “liberation” of Mariupol after his defense minister said Moscow controls the city in addition to the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian troops live. “Shut down this industrial area so that not a single fly can survive,” Putin said.
On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said his military was “lawfully pursuing” plans to “liberate” two separate areas in eastern Ukraine. He said on Thursday that the steel plant was “safely blocked”.
Russia cannot declare complete victory at Mariupol without a steel plant. The capture of the city has both strategic and symbolic significance. The besieged city has been a site of great suffering since the war broke out in February.
Russo-Ukraine War
Earlier in February, Russia acknowledged the “independence” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine. Soon after, on February 24, Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine.
Coal and steel producer Donbass has been the focus of Russia’s campaign to destabilize Ukraine since 2014, when the Kremlin used proxies to establish separatist “people’s republics” in Luhansk and Donetsk.
,With inputs from AFP and Reuters,