Russia has given an ultimatum to Ukrainian forces fighting in besieged Mariupol to lay down their weapons in order for their lives to be spared.
A serviceman is seen outside the Azovmash research and manufacturing complex in Mariupol on 16 April, 2022.Russia's defence ministry has told the Ukrainian forces still fighting in the besieged southern port of Mariupol to lay down their arms within hours in order to save their lives.Russia's earlier claim that its troops had cleared the urban area of Mariupol, scene of the war's heaviest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe, could not be independently verified.
As Russia launched more long-range attacks following the sinking of its Black Sea fleet's flagship, Moscow said its warplanes had struck a tank repair factory in Kyiv. An explosion was heard and smoke rose over the southeastern Darnytskyi district. The mayor said at least one person was killed and medics were fighting to save others.
The factory was reduced to a ruin of twisted steel and blasted concrete, with no sign of defenders present. Several bodies of civilians lay scattered on nearby streets, including a woman in a pink parka and white shoes. Smoke billowed from burning cars and the remains of what appeared to be an office building at the scene of an attack in the city as rescuers cleared mounds of debris that blocked the road outside.
Russia's Defence Ministry published video of the head of the navy, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, meeting on a parade ground with about a hundred sailors it said were members of the crew. The owner of both of the giant steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov, vowed to rebuild the city. "Mariupol has been and will always be a Ukrainian city," Mr Akhmetov told Reuters.
But Mr Putin appears determined to capture more Donbas territory to claim victory in a war that has left Russia subject to increasingly punitive Western sanctions and with few allies.
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