Russian forces are tightening the noose around the defenders holed up in a mammoth steel plant that represents the last known Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol
Ukrainian soldiers walk on a destroyed bridge in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. KYIV, Ukraine — — Russian forces tightened the noose around the defenders holed up Wednesday in a mammoth steel plant that represented the last known Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol, as a fighter apparently on the inside pleaded on a video for help: “We may have only a few days or hours left.
The Kremlin's stated goal is the capture of the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking eastern region that is home to coal mines, metal plants and heavy-equipment factories. Detaching it would give Putin a badly needed victory two months into the war, after the botched attempt to storm the capital, Kyiv.
Analysts say the offensive in the east could devolve into a war of attrition as Russia runs up against Ukraine's most experienced, battle-hardened troops, who have fought pro-Moscow separatists in the Donbas for eight years. Moscow has long demanded Ukraine drop any bid to join NATO. Ukraine has said it would agree to that in return for security guarantees from a number of other countries. Other sources of tension include the status of both the Crimean Peninsula, seized by Moscow in 2014, and eastern Ukraine, where the separatists have declared independent republics recognized by Russia.
The Russian side issued a new ultimatum to the defenders to surrender, but the Ukrainians have ignored all previous demands. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned of horrors yet to be revealed in Mariupol, given the death and destruction left behind in Bucha, near Kyiv, after the Russians retreated.
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