Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Russia's 'liberation' of the city of Mariupol. His defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said the rest of the city beyond the sprawling Azovstal steel plant where Ukrainian forces were holed has been liberated - as Russian officials refer to areas of Ukraine they have seized. Putin hailed that as a success.
Gaining control of the city on the Azov sea would be a major win for Putin, strategy-wise. The gain would help give Russia a land bridge to Crimea.
Shoigu said around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers remained sheltered inside the plant, using the facility's network of underground tunnels.
Putin ordered Shoigu to call off the planned storming of the Azovstal industrial area, dismissing it as "impractical," an AFP report reads.
"There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape," Putin said.
Technically, Russia cannot declare 'independence' without control of the steel plant. Putin, on February 22, declared 'independence' of Donetsk and Luhansk. He invaded Ukraine two days after the declaration.
Ukrainian officials did not comment on the latest remarks, but earlier said four buses with civilians managed to escape from the city after several unsuccessful attempts. Thousands more remain in the city, much of which has been reduced to a smoking ruin in a nearly two-month siege, with over 20,000 people feared dead.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said another attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol would be made Thursday - though it was not clear how the latest comments would affect that.
The governor of Luhansk said Russian forces control 80 per cent of his region, which is one of two that make up the Donbas. Before Russia invaded on February 24, the Kyiv government controlled 60 per cent of the Luhansk region.
Russia has repeatedly issued ultimatums to the defenders to surrender, but the Ukrainians have ignored them.
More than 100,000 people overall were believed trapped in Mariupol with little if any food, water, medicine or heat.
Putin, meanwhile, boasted that the Sarmat missile has no equivalents in the world. The Sarmat is intended to eventually replace the Soviet-built missile code-named Satan by NATO as a major component of Russia's nuclear arsenal.
It will make those who, in the heat of frantic, aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country think twice, Putin said
--With PTI inputs
