Russia claims it has surrounded a steel plant where Mariupol’s last defenders are holding out.

Russia said it was poised to complete the capture of the strategically important port of Mariupol on Saturday, after nearly two months of fighting and bombardments that have devastated the city and killed an unknown number of civilians.

The Russian defense ministry claimed it had cleared most of the city of Ukrainian forces except at the sprawling Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian fighters have been holding out.

A ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said Russian forces had surrounded about 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers in the steel plant, blocking any exit.

President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged on Saturday that the Ukrainian forces still defending Mariupol control only a small part of the city, and face a better-equipped force that is six times larger than their own. Read more

@nytimes