MOSCOW: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu informed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Russia's forces had entirely occupied Ukraine's strategic Black Sea port city of Mariupol, the Russian media reported.
As per Russian Times, at least 2,000 Ukrainian militants remain entrenched within the city's Azovstal steel complex, citing Shoigu as saying. According to the Minister's estimates, about 8,100 Ukrainian military and foreign mercenaries remained inside Mariupol when it was encircled in early March.
Over 1,400 militants have surrendered their weapons, Shoigu said, adding that over 142,000 civilians have been evacuated from the city, which has been under siege for weeks.
President Putin has reportedly called Shoigu's plan to raid the Azovstal factory "inadvisable" and has ordered that the region be "safely blocked," with those inside being offered another chance to lay down their arms. In recent days, Russia attempted twice to build a humanitarian passage for people wanting to leave the plant, but both attempts failed, it said.
On Putin's orders, Russian forces have declared ceasefires and provided humanitarian corridors for two hours a day for the previous two days to allow those within the Azovstal plant to leave.
"We've prepared 90 buses and 25 ambulances for them," Shoigu said, adding that surveillance cameras had been installed in the region to keep an eye on the situation.
The commander of Ukraine's 36th Marines Brigade, which is holed up at the factory, Sergey Volyna, stated that "hundreds" of civilians were trapped inside.
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