Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine admitted to fighting thousands of Ukrainians, including armed civilians, in the besieged city of Mariupol on Thursday.
The fighting is centered on the site of a large steel mill, Azovstal, and at the port, according to Eduard Basurin, who represents the separatist forces in Donetsk.
“We think that there are about 3,000 or 3,500 (opposition soldiers) left, but we must also take into account that among the residents of Mariupol, some of them took up arms, and therefore the number may be much higher,” A-said, according to several From Russian state media.
The city has been surrounded by the Russian army and its separatist allies for weeks, facing fierce Ukrainian resistance.
The humanitarian situation there is catastrophic, according to both sides, and the city is largely in ruins.
The capture of this port is considered strategic for Russia as it would allow it to link Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, the region under separatist control and Russian territory.
Moscow in particular deployed the massive units of the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov there, without having so far succeeded in capturing this port city.
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