Putin orders his men NOT to storm Mariupol steelworks – and declares the city ‘liberated’

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President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered the Russian military to cancel plans to storm a Mariupol steelworks, and declared the Ukrainian port city ‘liberated’.

Instead of launching a final assault on the Azovstal steel plant – the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in the devastated coastal city – he said he wanted his forces to completely block off the complex instead, ‘so even a fly cannot escape’.

Putin gave the order to Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, who had previously told his boss more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters were still holed up in the vast plant, which has a sprawling labyrinth of tunnels underneath it.

‘I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary,’ Putin told Shoigu in a televised meeting at the Kremlin. ‘I order you to cancel it.’

After Shoigu told him Moscow controlled the city – apart from the Azovstal steel plant – Putin hailed the ‘successful liberation’ of Mariupol. 

He said his decision not to storm the steelworks was motivated by the desire to safeguard the lives of Russian soldiers.

‘There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities,’ he said. ‘Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot not pass through.’ Shoigu confirmed the plant was ‘securely blocked.’

Putin also called on the remaining Ukrainian fighters in Azovstal who had not yet surrendered to lay down their arms, saying Russia would treat them with respect and would provide medical assistance to those injured.

Leaving the plant in Ukrainian hands, however, robs the Russians of the ability to declare complete victory in Mariupol. The city’s capture has both strategic and symbolic importance. 

The scale of suffering there has made it a worldwide focal point, and its definitive fall would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, and free up Russian troops to move elsewhere in the Donbas.

Thousands of civilians are believed to have died in the city, which was besieged by Russian troops for over a month, with little access to food, water and with no electricity. Putin’s order adds to fears that those inside the plant could starve.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists. 

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

Since the invasion began, tens of thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed in Mariupol, which has been indiscriminately targeted by Russian shelling.

Investigations are on-going into war crimes in the city, with two attacks – one on a maternity wards and another on a theatre where hundreds of civilians were taking shelter at the time – of particular focus.

Putin and Shoigu’s comments appeared to reflect a change in strategy in Mariupol, where the Russians previously seemed determined to take every last inch of the city. But it was not clear what it would mean in practical terms.

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 trapped under relentless Russian attacks against the last pockets of Ukrainian resistance in the devastated southern port city.  

Another attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol will be made Thursday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.  

Ukraine said Wednesday that Russians dropped heavy bombs to flatten what was left of the Azovstal plant – with Ukrainian troops hiding amongst its labyrinth of tunnels and bunkers spread out across about 4 square miles). 

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said about 1,000 civilians are also trapped.

A Ukrainian apparently in the plant posted a Facebook video urging world leaders to help evacuate people from the plant, saying, ‘We have more than 500 wounded soldiers and hundreds of civilians with us, including women and children.’

The officer identified himself as Serhiy Volynskyy of the 36th Marine Brigade and warned: ‘This may be our last appeal. We may have only a few days or hours left.’ The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

Wednesday saw the Russian side issued a new ultimatum to the defenders to surrender, but the Ukrainians have ignored all previous demands.

Putin’s troops, meanwhile, were ordered to shoot civilians in the besieged city of Mariupol if they do not wear white ribbons on their clothes.

Russia was accused of forcing civilians to wear the white ribbons, a symbol of the Russian army, so that they become ‘bait’ for Ukrainian snipers – and in turn help Putin’s men find out where the snipers are hidden. 

Petro Andriushchenko, the advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol, said on Telegram: ‘The occupiers no longer ‘mildly’ propose that civilians wear white ribbons to mark themselves out – they have turned to direct threats to open fire on anyone seen on the street without such ribbons.

‘Russians are gradually turning the city into a true ghetto for Ukrainians, at the same time using civilians as bait to detect hotspots.’

The disturbing development came as Zelensky said he was ready to swap Russian prisoners of war in exchange for the safe passage of civilians and Ukrainian troops who remain in Mariupol.  

More than 100,000 people overall were believed trapped in Mariupol with little if any food, water, medicine or heat. The city’s pre-war population was 400,000. 

A Zelensky adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that he and other Ukrainian negotiators were ready to hold talks without conditions to save the lives of trapped Mariupol defenders and civilians. There was no immediate response from Russia.

Mariupol holds strategic and symbolic value for both sides. The scale of suffering there has made it a worldwide focal point of the war. 

Mariupol’s fall would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, and free up Russian troops to move elsewhere in the Donbas. 

In Kyiv, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen became the latest European leaders to show support with a visit to the capital. 

They were due to meet with Zelensky, who warned in a video address overnight that the Russians were not ‘abandoning their attempts to score at least some victory by launching a new, large-scale offensive.’

‘The West stands together to support the Ukrainian people,’ Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it submitted a draft of its demands for ending the war, and the West raced to supply Ukraine with heavier weapons to counter the Russians’ new drive to seize the industrial east.

Britain’s Défense Ministry said in an assessment that Russia likely desires to demonstrate significant successes ahead of its annual May 9 Victory Day celebrations. ‘This could affect how quickly and forcefully they attempt to conduct operations in the run-up to this date.’

As fears grew for the fate of civilians in Mariupol, the Kyiv regional police said Thursday that two mass graves with nine bodies were discovered in the city of Borodyanka, northwest of the capital. 

The findings added to thousands of civilians reported killed by Russian forces, who have been accused of wholesale abuses of Ukrainians.

Head of the Kyiv regional police, Andriy Nebytov, said two women and a teenager were among the ‘civilians killed by the Russian occupiers.’

‘I want to stress that these people are civilians. The Russian military deliberately shot civilians that didn’t put up any resistance and didn’t pose any threat,’ Nebytov said, adding that some of the victims were apparently tortured.