Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said that all residential areas of Mariupol have been cleared of Ukrainian forces. He stated that a small number of Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal steelworks were besieged.
The city of Mariupol, on the coast of the Sea of Azov in Ukraine, has been turned into a pile of rubble due to conflicts.
If the declaration of Russia is confirmed, the Moscow administration will have achieved the biggest gain in the war so far.
WHAT HAPPENED IN MARIUPOL?
In Mariupol, the city that suffered the heaviest damage from the Russian bombardments, nearly 5 thousand civilians died, and more than 90 percent of the buildings became unusable.
Russia has been attacking with all its might since the beginning of the occupation to seize the geographically strategically important city. It is not known how many civilians remained in the city. Mariupol is seen as one of the important gates of Ukraine to the Black Sea.