Intense fighting continued around a large steel factory in Mariupol, in what appeared to be one of the last redoubts of Ukrainian forces in the besieged city, an adviser to the mayor said.
Pyotr Andryushchenko, an aide to the mayor, said that some 2,000 civilians were trapped along with the soldiers inside the Azovstal steel plant, one of Europe’s largest metal factories.
Mr. Andryshchenko insisted that street fighting was continuing throughout Levoberezhny, the district that includes the factory.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had completely surrounded the steel plant, and that the Ukrainian forces holding out “forbade negotiations about surrendering,” citing an intercepted radio transmission. The Ministry repeated a demand that the Ukrainians put down their weapons. “In case of further resistance,” the ministry said, “all of them will be eliminated.” Read more
@nytimes