Kyiv - President Vladimir Putin claimed victory over Mariupol on Thursday, declaring the port as "liberated", barring Azovstal, after nearly two months of siege.

In a televised meeting at the Kremlin, Putin told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu: "You successfully completed the combat effort to liberate Mariupol. Let me congratulate you on this occasion, and please convey my congratulations to the troops."

Putin directed his forces to seal off the Azovstal plant “so that not even a fly comes through.”

"They physically cannot take Azovstal, they have understood this, they have taken huge losses there," Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych told a briefing. "Our defenders continue to hold it."

Russian troops have bombarded the southeastern port city since the early days of the conflict and largely reduced it to ruins. Top officials have repeatedly claimed it was about to fall, but Ukrainian forces have stubbornly held on.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said her country and others are pressuring Russia to allow civilians out of Mariupol and to stop striking potential evacuation routes.
-AP/Reuters