Despite an order from Vladimir Putin to completely seal off the area, 20 civilians escape Azovstal.
The steelworks is a vast industrial area full of underground tunnels and other fortifiable locations
More than a week ago, after saying Mariupol had been captured, President Putin told his troops: "Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot not pass through." On Saturday, three loud explosions were heard in the south-west port city Odesa, which officials said destroyed the runway of the airport rendering it unusable.
"There are signs that the aggressor is preparing for an even bigger activation of military actions," Col Motuzyanyk said.The UK Ministry of Defence said Russia has been "forced to merge and redeploy depleted and disparate units from the failed advances" and "many of these units are likely suffering from weakened morale". That echoed statements by US officials overnight that Russia was "at least several days behind where they wanted to be".
A Russian diplomat in charge of nuclear non-proliferation, Vladimir Yermakov, said Moscow is sticking to its ideal that nuclear conflict is unacceptable - but accused the West of escalating tensions
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