Mariupol was on the brink of falling to Russia on Wednesday night in a major victory for the Kremlin, after around 1,000 Ukrainian marines reportedly surrendered and Russia's ministry of defence claimed it had taken control of the city's port.
Footage broadcast on Russian state television purportedly showed Ukrainian troops giving themselves up after holding out in the key besieged port city since the outbreak of war on February 24.
Soldiers emerging from a bunker at a steelworks were filmed walking with their hands up while one man helping to carry a comrade on a stretcher could be seen waving a white cloth.
Russia said 1,026 Ukrainian marines holed up at Ilyich iron and steelworks in the city's industrial district had been forced to surrender, including 162 officers, after putting up a last stand. Kyiv dismissed the claim.
Unverified posts from the Kremlin's defence ministry added that members of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade had 'voluntarily laid down arms'. Russia's defence ministry also claimed last night that it had taken control of Mariupol's port.
Pictured: Video appears to show Ukrainian Marines surrendering in the Eastern city of Mariupol. Russia claimed 1,026 Ukrainian marines holed up at Ilyich iron and steelworks in the city's industrial district had been forced to surrender, including 162 officers
The city has been surrounded for the vast majority of the seven-week invasion and large areas have been reduced to rubble, with images from the city reminiscent of those seen in Allepo, Syria and Grozny, Chechnya - also razed by Russian forces.
Moscow is facing claims that it committed war crimes following the shelling of a maternity hospital and the bombing of a theatre sheltering families which left hundreds dead. The true toll is not yet known.
The city's mayor has said a total of about 21,000 civilians have been killed during the fighting and seemingly indiscriminate shelling of the city.
However, the Ukrainian resistance, including men who stayed to fight when their families fled, had managed to cling on to control of the city, trying to protect an estimated 100,000 civilians left behind.
Yesterday, as Russian troops closed in and were accused of targeting anyone attempting to leave, one Ukrainian MP compared the situation to the Holocaust.
Petro Andriuschenko, an adviser to the mayor, said Ukraine still held several areas of the city including a separate steelworks at Azovstal – one of Europe's largest – and the harbour.
Capturing its Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, would give the Russians full control of Ukraine's main Sea of Azov port, reinforce a southern land corridor and expand its occupation of the country's East.
Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces were attacking Azovstal and the port, but a defence ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender.
'Russian forces are increasing their activities on the southern and eastern fronts, attempting to avenge their defeats,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Wednesday night video address.
The city's mayor Vadym Boychenko insisted that the city was yet to fall, but acknowledged remaining troops were 'vastly outnumbered'.
'When they say they're made of steel, we should know that steel also has its breaking point, but they are holding out and the city of Mariupol remains a Ukrainian city,' he said.
Boichenko, said Russia had brought in mobile crematoria 'to get rid of evidence of war crimes' - a statement that was not possible to verify.
Moscow has blamed Ukraine for civilian deaths and accused Kyiv of denigrating Russian armed forces.
A squad of Russian soldiers load a long belt of cannon shells into one of their armoured vehicles, April 12, 2022
A service member of pro-Russian troops loads rocket into an infantry combat vehicle during fighting in Ukraine-Russia conflict near a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works company in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 12, 2022
Earlier this week the 36th Marine Brigade said it was preparing for a final battle in Mariupol which would likely end in death or capture.
Last night there were claims that remaining marines had joined the ultranationalist Azov brigade following a 'complex and very risky' escape operation.
Regardless, military experts said the fall of Mariupol appeared to be a matter of 'hours, not days'.
Zelensky, in a forthright address yesterday, did not acknowledge claims about the surrender
