Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia said he was giving Ukrainians holed up in a steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol a chance to surrender, after his defense minister said at a televised meeting that Russia had “liberated” the city.

Mr. Putin sought to claim that Russia had fully taken the port city, in a strategically critical location for Moscow’s fight for control of the eastern Donbas region and its aim to build a land bridge to Crimea. Troops have been fighting for weeks for control of the city, and the last remaining Ukrainian defenders and some civilians have been holding out at the Azovstal Iron and Steel works plant.

Mr. Putin instructed his military to blockade the plant and demand the Ukrainians surrender.

Russia appeared to be trying to portray this as a significant moment in the war, even though the situation on the ground in Mariupol has changed little in recent days. Read more

@nytimes