Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed “success” in Mariupol but ordered his forces not to storm the site where the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the besieged port city is holding out.
In a rare televised meeting at the Kremlin on Thursday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that the sprawling Azovstal steel plant was “securely blocked” while the rest of the strategically vital city was “liberated.”
Putin said that rather than risk Russian soldiers’ lives by launching a final ground assault on the remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the city, they should instead blockade it “so that not even a fly comes through.”
Ukrainian forces have held out under weeks of heavy bombardment that have decimated much of the city and prompted international condemnation of Moscow's tactics. A commander in Mariupol on Wednesday issued a video plea for help, saying his troops were facing their final days. Kyiv has been desperately seeking ways to evacuate the soldiers and thousands of civilians still trapped in the city without much food or aid.
Putin meets defense minister in Moscow
Russia shutters consulates of Baltic states, declares staff 'persona non grata'
Russia's foreign ministry has announced it is shuttering the consulates of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In a statement, it said that the consulates of the three Baltic states in St. Petersburg, as well as the Latvian and Estonian offices in Pskov, will be closed.
The ministry said it summoned the countries' ambassadors to notify them of the decision and to protest their military assistance to Kyiv. All non-Russian personnel of the consulates have been declared “persona non grata,” and asked to leave the country, it said.
'We are doing everything we can' for Mariupol, Zelenskyy says
Thousands of civilians and military personnel remain trapped in Mariupol as Russia continued to block evacuation efforts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
"We are doing everything we can," he told Ukrainian media. “It is more like a terrorist operation by the Russian Federation against Mariupol and the inhabitants of this city, than a war,” he added.
Ukraine's president added that about a thousand civilians were sheltering in the Azovstal steel plant with the port city's last military defenders, but that despite efforts to create humanitarian corridors they could not get out due to the threat of Russian shelling.
Putin claims Mariupol 'success,' orders forces not to storm Ukrainian stronghold
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed "success" in the strategically vital Mariupol but ordered his forces not to storm the site where the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance is holding out.
In a move that would seemingly deprive the Kremlin of the ability to declare it had fully captured the key port city, Putin told his defense minister that to spare Russian lives they should ensure that "not even a fly" can get in or out of the Azovstal steel plant.
Sergei Shoigu, the defense minister, told Putin that the stronghold was "fully blocked" while the rest of the city had been "liberated."
Return of 'deported' civilians from Russia will be another 'war' for Ukraine, presidential adviser says
The return of people who were “forcibly deported” to Russia will be another “war” for Ukrainians, presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak has said.
“After the war, there will be a war to take our people back,” he said in a statement Thursday. Ukraine has accused Russia of forcibly deporting large numbers of civilians amid the fighting; NBC News has not verified the claims.
To facilitate their return, Podolyak said, it is first necessary to research who was deported by force and under what conditions. Mediators or representatives of the international community must visit these people, he said.
Ukraine’s tiny neighbor worries it could be next on Putin’s list
BENDER, Moldova — On the Dniester River's journey to the Black Sea from its source in Ukraine close to the Polish border, it runs through the tiny country of Moldova. Its banks are home to boar, pheasant and Russian soldiers, who nominally protect a breakaway slice of the country.
Passing through a checkpoint manned by the Operational Group of Russian Forces on the way to Transnistria in early April, one soldier threw himself back in a chair, the flag of the Russian Federation on the shoulder of his camouflage uniform. Another stood, black shoelaces loosely tied, with a rifle slung over his arm. Dug in beside them was an armored personnel carrier. A third uniformed man watched from the shade.
The river separates not only the Russian-speaking area from the republic of Moldova, but also two competing ideological visions for the region’s future: a Russian-backed enclave under Moscow’s control and the other in the European camp of Western democracies. Following Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the specter of armed conflict looms ever larger over Moldova.
Biden set to discuss Russia, Ukraine from White House on Thursday morning
President Joe Biden will "provide an update on Russia and Ukraine" on Thursday, the White House has said.
The president will deliver the remarks from the Roosevelt Room at 9:45 a.m. ET.
U.S. officials have said the Biden administration is preparing another military aid package for Ukraine. Biden on Wednesday called the attack and invasion of Ukraine “Putin’s brutal and unjustified war,” referring to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine says evacuation urgently needed at Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol
Ukrainian officials have demanded an urgent humanitarian corridor from the Azovstal steel plant, the last stronghold in Mariupol for Ukrainian fighters.
“There are now about 1,000 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers. They all need to be pulled out of Azovsteel today!” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a Telegram post Thursday.
She called on the international community to focus its efforts on the plant, calling it a “key moment” for humanitarian efforts. Earlier Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his defense minister that Russian forces should not storm the plant but blockade it instead.
Djokovic slams Wimbledon ban on Russian, Belarusian tennis players as ‘crazy’
World tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic said Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is “crazy.”
“I will always condemn war, I will never support war being myself a child of war,” Djokovic told reporters at the Serbia Open, an ATP 250 event in Belgrade.
“However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy,” he said. “When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good.”
Resistance in Mariupol
4 evacuation buses left Mariupol on Wednesday
Four buses carrying residents of Mariupol left the besieged city through a humanitarian corridor Wednesday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
“They spent the night in Berdyansk and are now heading to Vasylivka. We are waiting for them in Zaporizhia soon,” she said in a Telegram post early Thursday. The number of people able to make it out fell far short of the 6,000 Kyiv was hoping for, with fighting continuing around the besieged city.
Ukraine will attempt to evacuate more women, children and the elderly Thursday via buses, Vereschuk said. Authorities will also try arranging evacuation routes from Kherson, she added.
Russian forces advancing toward Kramatorsk as eastern offensive continues, U.K. says
Russian forces are advancing toward the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, which has been under heavy rocket attacks, the United Kingdom’s defense ministry has said.
The forces have been moving from staging areas in the Donbas, and the move has been coupled with high levels of Russian air activity aimed at providing support to Moscow’s new eastern offensive, the ministry said in an intelligence update early Thursday.
“Russia likely desires to demonstrate significant successes ahead of their annual 9th May Victory Day celebrations,” the ministry said. “This could affect how quickly and forcefully they attempt to conduct operations in the run-up to this date.”
China’s Xi reiterates opposition to use of economic sanctions
Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated his country’s opposition to unilateral sanctions and “long-arm jurisdiction,” without directly mentioning the West’s punitive actions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Delivering a video speech to the annual Boao Forum for Asia gathering on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, Xi warned Thursday that economic “decoupling” and pressure tactics such as severing supply chains would not work.
“China would like to put forward a global security initiative” that upholds “the principle of indivisibility of security,” Xi said. “We should uphold the principle of indivisibility of security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries.”