The Russian president ordered his troops to instead blockade the vast steel plant so tightly that 'not even a fly can get through.' Hundreds of soldiers and civilians are sheltering in the plant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces not to storm the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged port city of Mariupol on Thursday — the sprawling Azovstal steel plant — instead telling his troops to block it"so that not even a fly can get through."
Russia's defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said the rest of the city beyond the plant has been"liberated" - a term Russian officials use to refer to areas of Ukraine they have seized. Putin hailed that as a"success."Leaving the plant in Ukrainian hands robs the Russians of the ability to declare complete victory in Mariupol, which has seen some of the most dramatic fighting of the war and whose capture has both strategic and symbolic importance.
Another woman said some of the children's"teeth are starting to rot because they lack vitamin D. There's not enough sun." Ukrainian officials did not comment on Putin's remarks, but earlier said four buses with civilians managed to escape from the city after several unsuccessful attempts. Thousands more remained 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.
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