Kadyrov says Mariupol will fall 'by lunchtime' as Zelensky vows to put Russian ...

Chechen warlord and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov has said the besieged port of Mariupol will 'fall by lunchtime' as Russian forces continue to tighten the noose around the city's last Ukrainian stronghold. 

Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by Russia since invading Ukraine eight weeks ago, and the port is seen as a key strategic position for Russia's assault on the east of Ukraine.

But Putin's forces have been forced to reduce what was once a bustling metropolis of 400,000 people to rubble, having met bitter resistance from Ukraine's armed forces and territorial defence units stationed there. 

Now, all that remains of the Ukrainian defence in Mariupol is sheltered in the Azovstal steel plant, along with an estimated 1,000 civilians hiding as the Russian forces close in. 

'Before lunchtime, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation,' Kadyrov, the head of Russia's republic of Chechnya said of the steel plant.

Ukraine's defence ministry was not immediately available for comment.

A few dozen civilians managed to leave the bombed out urban centre in a small bus convoy yesterday, but Ukraine accused Russia yet again of sealing off previously agreed humanitarian corridor, meaning fewer civilians were able to flee than hoped. 

A Ukrainian marine commander, Serhiy Volny, said on Wednesday fighters at the steel works may not be able to hold out for much longer, adding to fears that an estimated 1,000 civilians trapped in the steel plant will soon be at the mercy of the invaders. 

'This is our appeal to the world. It may be our last. We may have only a few days or hours left,' he said in an alarming video message

'The enemy units are dozens of times larger than ours, they have dominance in the air, in artillery, in ground troops, in equipment and in tanks.' 

Ukrainian negotiators are working fervently in a last-ditch attempt to reach a deal to spare their compatriots after a Russian surrender-or-die ultimatum was ignored yesterday.

Ukraine is ready for a 'special round of negotiations' with no conditions 'to save our guys - military, civilians, children, the living and the wounded,' negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. 

But peace negotiations have stalled after the Kremlin accused Kyiv on Wednesday of delaying the talks and changing its positions. 

Kyiv accuses Moscow of blocking talks by refusing humanitarian ceasefires, referring to repeated bombing of evacuation corridors in Mariupol and other cities. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also warned it is 'very hard' to see how Kyiv can negotiate with Putin given his 'lack of good faith'. 

'How can you negotiate with a crocodile when it's got your leg in its jaws?' Johnson asked reporters last night.

'It's not for the UK or for anyone else to try and substitute ourselves for the Ukrainians. It's for the Ukrainians to decide their future. 

'But it's very hard to see how they can negotiate with Putin now given his manifest lack of good faith.

He added: 'We've just got to keep supplying them with the things they need.'

Russia's targeted attacks in Mariupol and other locations in the Donbas have prompted European and Western powers to offer further aid to the Ukrainian defenders by supplying yet more weaponry.  

US President Joe Biden last week announced another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, sending for the first time heavy artillery systems, while

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