President Putin Claims Victory In Mariupol, President Zelenskiy: They're Just Postponing The Inevitable

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was only delaying what was inevitable, their exit from Ukraine, including Mariupol due to the resistance given.

The late-night statement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in a major battle in Mariupol on Thursday, while hundreds of soldiers and civilians were still holding out inside the Azovstal steelworks area.

Ukraine says President Putin wants to avoid a final clash with his troops in Mariupol, as he lacks the troops to defeat them. But Ukrainian officials have also asked for help in evacuating injured civilians and soldiers.

Meanwhile, the United States refuted Putin's claims and said it believed Ukrainian forces were still in control of the city. Putin ordered his troops to blockade the steel complex, where the Ukrainians had previously been ordered to surrender or die.

Yesterday, President Putin congratulated Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on his successful completion of the battle in Mariupol. Ordered the cancellation of the raid on Azovstal, but wanted a siege so that the flies could neither enter nor leave.

In a late-night address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was doing all it could "to talk about at least some victories", including mobilizing new battalion tactical groups.

"They can only delay the inevitable, the time when the occupiers will have to leave our territory, including from Mariupol, a city that continues to fight Russia despite what the occupiers say," President Zelensky said.

Asked about Putin's declaration of victory in Mariupol, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said it was "more disinformation than their outdated playbook".

Mariupol, once home to 400,000 people, has witnessed not only the most intense fighting of the war that began when Russian troops invaded on February 24, but also its worst humanitarian catastrophe.

Ukraine estimates tens of thousands of civilians died in Mariupol. The United Nations and the Red Cross say civilian casualties are at least in the thousands.

Journalists who reached Mariupol during the siege found streets littered with corpses, nearly all buildings destroyed, and residents huddled in the cold in cellars, going out to cook leftovers on makeshift stoves or bury bodies in gardens.

Ukrainian fighters remain inside the Azovstal steel complex, one of the largest metallurgical facilities in Europe, covering an area of 11 sq km with massive buildings, underground bunkers and tunnels.

Mariupol, a major port in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, lies between territory controlled by Russian separatists and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow captured in 2014. By seizing the city, Russia will be able to link the two regions as it intensifies its offensive. in eastern Ukraine.