Russia claims to have invaded Mariupol: ‘Ukrainian forces are empty’

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the remaining Ukrainian forces will be surrounded on the territory of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. “The only way to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender,” she said. According to the Russians, they are members of the Azov Battalion, an ultra-nationalist movement within the Ukrainian army.

The Russian allegations could not be independently verified. Kyiv has yet to respond, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned earlier on Saturday that canceling all Ukrainian military personnel in Mariupol could mean the end of peace negotiations with Moscow.

Read also. Zelensky threatens to end negotiations if Mariupol falls

Mariupol has been under severe siege by the Russian army for weeks. Ukrainian authorities said last week that at least 20,000 had been killed in the city, which had a population of about 441,000 before the war.

The port city is of great strategic importance to the Kremlin. If the city falls into the hands of Russia, then there will be a direct land connection with the pro-Russian people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of the country, on the border with Russia.