Russia claims more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in Mariupol, though Ukraine did not confirm the surrender Wednesday
Russia has claimed that more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the southern city of Mariupol, but there were competing views about whether the devastating seven-week battle for control of the strategic port on the Sea of Azov was ongoing.
While more than half the city’s prewar population is believed to have fled, humanitarian aid organizations say about 160,000 people have been trapped in the city – and have gone without regular supplies of food, water or electricity since mid-March. The Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, as it looked on April 9. Smoke can be seen rising from buildings as Ukrainian and Russian forces battle for control of the complex.On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “a genocide” for the first time, referring to apparent war crimes committed around the country. “Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian,” he said.
A Russian soldier climbs the steps of Mariupol's Drama Theatre on an April 12 media trip organized by the Russian military.Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s military, told the official Tass news service that 162 officers and 47 women were among the 1,059 Ukrainian marines who had “voluntarily laid down their arms and surrendered in the area of the Ilyicha metals factory in the city of Mariupol.