KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the battle for Mariupol on Thursday, even as he ordered his troops not to risk more losses by storming the giant steel plant containing the last Ukrainian holdouts in the city.
Instead, he directed his forces to seal off the Azovstal plant “so that not even a fly comes through.”
Russian troops have bombarded the southeastern port city since the early days of the war and largely reduced it to ruins. Top officials have repeatedly claimed it was about to fall, but Ukrainian forces have stubbornly held on.
In recent weeks, a few thousand defenders, by Russia’s estimate, holed up along with hundreds of civilians in the sprawling steel plant, as Putin’s forces pounded the site and repeatedly issued ultimatums ordering their surrender.
But on Thursday, as he has done before, the Russian leader seemed to shift the narrative and declared victory without taking the plant, which covers 11 square kilometers (4 square miles) and is threaded with some 24 kilometers (15 miles) of tunnels and bunkers.
“The completion of combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success,” he said in an appearance with his defense minister. “Congratulations.”
Ukraine scoffed at the idea of a Russian victory.
“This situation means the following: They cannot physically capture Azovstal. They have understood this. They suffered huge losses there,” said Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The capture of Mariupol would represent the Kremlin’s biggest victory yet of the war in Ukraine. It would help Moscow secure more of the coastline, complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, and enable Putin to shift more forces to the larger battle now underway for Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.
By painting the mission in Mariupol a success, Putin may be seeking to take the focus off the plant, which has become a global symbol of defiance. Even without the plant, the Russians appear to have control of the rest of the city and its vital port, though that facility seems to have been extensively damaged.
“The Russian agenda now is not to capture these really difficult places where the Ukrainians can hold out in the urban centers, but to try and capture territory and also to encircle the Ukrainian forces and declare a huge victory,” retired British Rear Adm. Chris Parry said.
Putin’s order appeared to mean Russian forces intend to maintain the siege and wait for the defenders to surrender when they run out of food or ammunition. The bombardment of the plant could well continue.
Western nations, meanwhile, rushed to pour heavy weapons into Ukraine to help it counter the new offensive in the east.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance for Kyiv, including heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and drones.
But he also warned that the $13.6 billion approved last month by the U.S. Congress for military and humanitarian aid is “almost exhausted” and more will be needed.
