Ukraine war: Mariupol fighters holding out after Putin orders blockade of Azovstal steel plant

Russia reluctant to storm Ukrainian stronghold over fears of ‘significant casualties’, say western analysts

Ukrainian soldiers are still holding out at their last foothold in Mariupol, despite Vladimir Putin claiming victory and saying that Russia had “liberated” the city.

After two months of intense fighting in the besieged city, Ukrainian troops remain holed up in the Azovstal steel plant in the southeast of the port. Roughly 1,000 civilians are also thought to be there, seeking sanctuary in its underground network of tunnels.

In a televised meeting on Thursday, the Russian president told his defence minister Sergei Shoigu to blockade the plant rather than storm it.

"Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot not pass through," Mr Putin said, while praising Mr Shoigu for what he referred to as a successful operation to “liberate” the city.

"There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities," he said.

However, Ukrainians on the ground have dismissed Mr Putin’s declaration of victory, with one soldier telling the BBC “that as long as we are here, Mariupol remains under control of Ukraine”.

The US State Department on Thursday said Mr Putin’s claim to have liberated the city was “yet more disinformation from (a) well-worn playbook”.

Western officials have attributed the Russian leader’s decision to blockade the steel plant to a desire to free up Russian troops for fighting elsewhere in eastern Ukraine.

“A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness,” the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its latest military intelligence update.

This view is shared by the retired British Rear Admiral Chris Parry, who said Moscow was turning its attention to the wider battle for the Donbas, in an attempt “to try and capture territory and also to encircle the Ukrainian forces and declare a huge victory”.

"The Russian agenda now is not to capture these really difficult places where the Ukrainians can hold out in the urban centres,” he explained.

People fleeing the besieged city of Mariupol arrive in Zaporizhzhia on 21 April, 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

Despite Russian gains in the east of his country, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said Moscow’s progress will only be temporary.

In his daily video message to the nation, Ukraine’s leader said “the occupiers continue to do everything to have a reason to talk about at least some victories”.

“None of these steps will help Russia in the war against our state. They can only delay the inevitable - the time when the invaders will have to leave our territory. In particular Mariupol - a city that continues to resist Russia, despite everything the occupiers say,” he added.

The Ukrainian president’s words came as new satellite imagery revealed what appeared to be hundreds of mass graves near Mariupol.

Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, accused Russia of “hiding their military crimes” in his city by reportedly burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians in the town of Manhush.

Mr Boychenko called Russian atrocities in Mariupol "the new Babi Yar," a reference to the massacre of almost 34,000 Ukrainian Jews by the Nazis in 1941.

"The bodies of the dead were being brought by the truckload and actually simply being dumped in mounds," one of his aides said.

Maxar Technologies published photographs from Manhush, saying its analysis of satellite imagery suggested the graves had been dug in late March and had recently been extended.

Although Russia has not commented on the latest allegations from Mariupol, it denies targeting civilians, despite evidence to the contrary in places such as Bucha.