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Russia claims to have “liberated” the city, with only a few thousand Ukrainian forces remaining in the Azovstal factory complex, where many more civilians are reported to have sought safety.
However, Zelensky stated that the struggle was still ongoing.
“They can only postpone the inevitable — the day when the invaders will have to leave our area, particularly Mariupol, a city that, despite what the occupants claim, continues to fight Russia.”
The southern port city has been the focus of continuous Russian attacks as Moscow attempts to build a land bridge linking occupied Crimea and the Russian-based rebel statelets in the Donbas region.
Ukrainian officials have requested a rapid humanitarian passage to allow civilians and injured combatants to flee the vast Azovstal steel factory.
“They have almost no food, water, or critical medicine,” claimed Ukraine’s foreign ministry.
Three school buses transporting evacuees arrived in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday after leaving Mariupol and passing through Russian-controlled area.
Ukrainian officials had wanted to evacuate many more residents, but Russian soldiers were accused of targeting a corridor used by fleeing civilians.
“We apologise to the people of Mariupol who waited for evacuation today with no result,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshuk wrote on Telegram.
Putin applauds the ‘liberation’ of Mariupol.
Zelensky also accused Russia of preparing the framework for a referendum to consolidate its grip over territories in eastern Ukraine, encouraging residents to avoid providing personal information to Moscow’s forces.
“If an order from Moscow is given to conduct such a display, this is intended to falsify the so-called referendum on your land,” he said.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin praised the “liberation” of Mariupol as a “success” for Russian soldiers and authorised a siege of the Azovstal complex.
With Moscow expanding its attacks in eastern Ukraine, the West is also increasing military help, including $800 million in fresh US assistance announced Thursday by President Joe Biden.
According to the Pentagon, the package includes howitzers, armoured vehicles to pull them, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, and tactical drones created expressly for Ukraine’s needs by the US Air Force.
On Thursday, Zelensky informed leaders of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank that his country now need $7 billion per month to function, accusing Russia of “destroying all objects in Ukraine that might serve as an economic underpinning for life.”
Meanwhile, the Spanish and Danish prime ministers visited Kyiv, pledging additional military help.
Germany, under fire for not providing more to Zelensky’s government, said it had agreed with eastern European partners to indirectly supply Ukraine with heavy weaponry by replenishing stock given to Kyiv.
Efforts to isolate Moscow continued, with Biden declaring a ban on Russian-affiliated ships accessing US ports and the Organization of American States banning Russia as a permanent observer.
Moscow announced fresh sanctions, including travel bans for US Vice President Kamala Harris and hundreds of other important Americans and Canadians.
‘Everything is being investigated.’
Meanwhile, in and around Kiev, the terrible process of exhuming and documenting bodies left behind by Russia’s exit continued.
When Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Borodianka near the capital, he claimed he was “struck to witness the tragedy and horrors of Putin’s war.”
And the private satellite imaging website Maxar in the United States posted photographs of a “mass grave” on the northwestern outskirts of Manhush, 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Mariupol.
According to UN estimates, the violence has displaced more than 7.7 million people internally, with over five million fleeing to other countries, resulting in Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
Despite the risk, though, returns have quickened in recent weeks, reaching over one million, according to a spokeswoman for Kyiv’s border force.
Returnees in the village of Moshchun, northwest of Kyiv, must sign disclaimers acknowledging the risk of death or maiming from unexploded munitions.
As de-mining activities in the community continued, Olena Klymenko was willing to incur the danger of returning to the site of her damaged home.
“We discovered a booby trap in our lawn. It appears to have been deactivated. We don’t know, “She told AFP.
“However, we still need to seek for our belongings.”
