Russian president tells forces that storming last Ukrainian stronghold in port city would be ‘impractical’
Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces not to storm the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged city of Mariupol, after his defence minister admitted that the Russian army was still fighting thousands of Ukrainian troops there.
Putin described a plan to storm the Azovstal steelworks “impractical” and called instead for Russian troops to blockade the area “so that a fly can’t get through”.
