Maps: Tracking the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

The Russian military moved into the center of the southern city of Mariupol this week, a significant advance in a crucial, bloody battle that has continued for almost seven weeks. The advance split Ukrainian forces in two, with one group near the port and another in the eastern industrial district.

Seizing Mariupol is crucial for Russia. The city occupies a strategic location between Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and areas of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists. If Russia takes control of the city, troops fighting there could be redeployed to Donbas, which is now Russia’s central focus in the war.

Despite being outnumbered, Ukrainian troops continue to hold some key areas of Mariupol.

But given recent Russian gains, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington research group, believe that Russian forces are likely to capture Mariupol in the coming week. Read more

@nytimes