An adviser to Ukraine's presidential office says Russian forces are attacking a steel plant that is the last defence stronghold of Ukrainian forces in the strategic port city of Mariupol.
The Associated PressSmoke rises above the Azovstal iron and steel works plant in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on Thursday. Ukrainian officials have estimated that about 2,000 of their troops are inside the plant, along with about 1,000 sheltering in the facility's underground tunnels, as the plant comes under continued attack.
Putin ordered the Russian military not to storm the plant and instead to block it off in an apparent attempt to stifle the remaining pocket of resistance there. Children are seen in a video released on Saturday by Ukraine's Azov Battalion as they take shelter in what the battalion said is a bunker in the Azovstal complex in Mariupol.
Mariupol has been reduced largely to smoking rubble by weeks of bombardment, and Russian state TV showed the flag of the pro-Moscow Donetsk separatists raised on what it said was the city's highest point, its TV tower. It also showed what it said was the main building at the Azovstal steel plant in flames.
"In addition to the fact that street fighting continues in the city for several weeks, the Russian army constantly fires at multi-storey residential buildings and private houses," Haidai wrote on the messaging app Instagram. "Just yesterday, local residents withstood five enemy artillery attacks. Not all survived,"
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Russia renews assault on Mariupol, intensifies Luhansk bombardment, Ukraine saysUkrainian forces are pulling back from some settlements to new defensive lines in the face of an intensifying barrage on all cities in the Luhansk region
Read more »
Possible mass graves near Mariupol as Russia attacks in eastSatellite photos of what appeared to be rows upon rows of freshly dug mass graves on the outskirts of Mariupol brought the horrors of the war increasingly into focus, as Russia pounded away Friday at Ukrainian holdouts in the city's steel mill and other targets in a drive to seize the country's industrial east.
Read more »
While Russia claims victory in Mariupol, observers say Putin won't stop there | CBC NewsAfter weeks of slow progress in capturing Ukrainian territory, Russia is keen to proclaim a military win. Now, with its troops surrounding Mariupol, there is increasing talk about Russia's goal to take the south coast of Ukraine in order to create a land bridge to Crimea.
Read more »
Evening Update: Russia targets 61 Canadians with sanctions as Putin claims victory in MariupolAlso: Ottawa scales back drug price reforms that would have cost big pharma billions
Read more »
Live updates: Russia forces fire missiles at Odessa, Ukraine saysWhat's happening in Ukraine on Saturday: An adviser to Ukraine's interior minister says Russian forces have fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odessa.
Read more »