mariupol
Ukrainian officials said the fighters had “completed their mission” and there was no way to free the plant by military means.
Ukraine offered to release Russian prisoners of war in exchange for the safe evacuation of the badly injured fighters that remained trapped inside the mill.
President Vladimir Putin wants to present the Russian people with a battlefield triumph — or announce an escalation — in time for Victory Day on Monday.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he hadn’t expected the Russian offensive to “drag on this way,” in an interview with The Associated Press.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
According to an AP investigation, 600 people inside and outside the building died. That's almost double the death toll cited so far and many survivors put the number even higher.
It was unclear how many Ukrainian fighters were still inside, but a few hundred civilians also remained there.
People fleeing besieged Mariupol described weeks of bombardments and deprivation as they arrived in Ukrainian-held territory.
People sheltering elsewhere in the city are to be allowed out on Monday, local officials said.
António Guterres is due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, on Thursday, and his meeting with Putin is expected to top the agenda.
Local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians in an effort to conceal the slaughter taking place in the siege of the port city.