President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, April 21, declared the long-suffering city Mariupol fully under Russian Federation (RF) control, as defenders claimed they had destroyed more RF tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in street battles.
Putin in a televised meeting thanked RF Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for “liberating” the Azov Sea port city and said combat activity in Mariupol had finished in practice.
“They (the Ukrainian defenders) are effectively sealed up,” Shoigu reported to Putin, in images aired on RF state-controlled media.
“Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape,” Putin said in a televised meeting.
“Azovstal’ is not an objective that we need to take with infantry as quickly as possible. The elimination of a fortified area would come at a high price of the lives of our soldiers. Every dead Russian in such an operation would be one more than needed. Our manpower is limited,” Putin said.
A statement from the Azov National Guard Regiment, one of the combat units locked down inside the Mariupol’s massive Azovstal steel works, said defenders will not surrender and that they will continue to attack RF forces when possible. On Thursday Azov fighters destroyed three RF tanks and three RF infantry fighting vehicles, the statement said.
A Wednesday evening video appeal by Azov Regiment vice commander Sviatoslav Palamar called on the RF command to open a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded UAF soldiers sheltering the factory premises. He also appealed to Ukraine’s national government to launch a ground offensive to help defenders break out to freedom.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a Wednesday evening interview with French media said Kyiv lacks the ground forces to attempt the break-out, and that were it attempted powerful RF artillery and air force units would destroy any Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) formations moving in the direction of Mariupol.
According to Ukrainian news reports, a warren of deep tunnels and chambers below the Azovstal’s industrial complex is almost impervious to any weapon in the RF inventory. On Tuesday the RF air force used T-22 bombers – a strategic aircraft normally used to carry large anti-ship missiles – to drop bombs weighing three tons on UAF positions. The attacks demolished structures on the surface but had little effect on bunkers and shelters deep below the ground, Azov statements said.
