Chechen Leader Convinced Russian Troops Will Take Ukraine's Last Stronghold At Mariupol Today: Before Or After Lunch

JAKARTA - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov expressed his confidence that Russian troops would succeed in capturing the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol on Thursday.

Chechen troops are known to have joined the Russian army in the special military operation, which was staged by Moscow in Ukraine.

"Before lunch, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation," he said in an audio message posted online on Thursday morning, cited from Reuters from News agency Interfax, April 21.

Mariupol, home to more than 400.000 people before the war, is an important port for industrial and agricultural exports and the location of some of Ukraine's largest metal factories.

Taking control of Mariupol would give Russia complete control of the coast of the Sea of Azov, and a secure land bridge to link the Russian mainland and pro-Russian separatist territories in the east, with the Crimean peninsula which Moscow captured and annexed in 2014.

Citing Alarabiya, currently, the Russian troops are focusing their attacks on the port city of the Azovstal steel mill. Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday Russia attacked the Azovstal steel plant with a bunker-destroying bomb, knowing that thousands of soldiers and civilians were sheltering there.