Russians drop bunker-busters on Mariupol steel plant, call on Ukraine defenders to surrender
- Mariupol’s Ukrainian defenders are holding out against Russian forces in the city’s Azovstal steel plant
- Capturing the southeastern port city would be Russia’s biggest victory after two months of fighting
Russia on Tuesday called on Ukrainian forces to “immediately lay down arms” and issued a new ultimatum for the defenders of the besieged port city of Mariupol to give up their resistance.
The Russian defence ministry called on Kyiv to show “reason and give the corresponding orders to fighters to cease their senseless resistance”, adding that defenders of Mariupol would be “guaranteed survival” if they laid down their arms starting at noon.
Russia estimated that 2,500 Ukrainian troops and about 400 foreign mercenaries were dug in at Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, which contain myriad buildings, blast furnaces and rail tracks.
The Ukrainian defenders ignored a Russian ultimatum on the weekend to surrender.
The United States said nearly a dozen Russian battalion tactical groups have been tied up trying to defeat them for weeks. Earlier on Tuesday, Russia-backed separatist forces said they were trying to storm the plant, the RIA news agency quoted separatist spokesperson Eduard Basurin as saying.
That came after the commander of the Azov Regiment of Ukraine’s National Guard said Russia had begun dropping bunker-buster bombs on the steel plant.