Russian forces are continuing their offensive against the Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Friday, while a UN convoy is expected to evacuate civilians still sheltering in the complex.
Russian forces “in certain areas, with the support of aviation, have resumed their operations to take control of the factory” but “the blockade of Ukrainian defense units continues,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement does not speak of a truce, when the Russian army had announced on Wednesday night a unilateral three-day truce, from Thursday to Saturday, to allow the evacuation of civilians from the huge steel mill.
But a Ukrainian commander at the factory had indicated on Thursday that the Russians were “not keeping their promise” of a truce.
Taking Azovstal would allow Moscow to claim full control of Mariupol, a strategic port south of Donbas that had 500,000 inhabitants before the war but has been devastated by two months of siege and bombing.
Russia has so far claimed full control of only one major Ukrainian city, Kherson.
Ukrainians have indicated in recent days that they fear Moscow wants to organize a military parade in Mariupol on May 9, the day Russians celebrate the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
