Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the Ukrainian city of Mariupol will fall to Moscow’s forces on Thursday.
Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s republic of Chechnya, predicted the last stronghold in the city will collapse, leaving the city completely under Russian control, Reuters reported.
“Before lunchtime, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation,” Kadyrov said, referring to a steel plant that has been a final holdout after weeks of attacks and shelling.
Ukrainian Maj. Serhiy Volyna, who is leading the small number of troops left in the city and protecting civilians at the plant, pleaded to the world for help in a video from Mariupol.
“We appeal and plead to all world leaders to help us. We ask them to use the procedure of extraction and take us to the territory of a third-party state,” he said, NBC News reported.
Vadym Boichenko, the mayor of Mariupol, said in a TV interview Wednesday around 100,000 people still remain in Mariupol amid the fighting, according to the BBC.
Ukrainian and European officials have also been predicting Mariupol’s imminent seizure, in what would be the largest city overtaken by Russia since the war began on Feb. 24.
Volyna, who commands Ukraine’s 36th Separate Marine Brigade, said the city has a few hours to a few days left before it will collapse.
“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,” he said.
A European official warned on Tuesday that Mariupol would fall within days.
“The Russians will continue to use artillery and bombings, and at the same time they will push civilians out of the city. So at the end of the day, we do expect a complete destruction of the city and many civilian casualties in Mariupol,” the official said.
Russia has been accused of various war crimes in the city, and throughout Ukraine, as thousands of Ukrainian civilians have died due to Russian forces’ actions.
Early reports from Mariupol, under siege from Russia for two months, documented atrocities and alleged war crimes such as Russian bombing of a maternity hospital; shelters marked as housing children, and civilian infrastructure.
Satellite imagery has reportedly showed about 90 percent of the city destroyed, and Ukrainian city officials estimate that civilian casualties are in the tens of thousands, through a combination of suffering under military attacks and starvation, with lack of access to food, water and electricity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday he would be willing to exchange Russian prisoners of war for civilians in Mariupol as the situation gets more desperate, The Washington Post reported.
Water systems have been devastated and food supplies have dwindled for citizens throughout the war, with Russia reportedly shooting at humanitarian vehicles and civilians in bread lines.
While Russian forces demand surrender, Ukraine has called for talks about humanitarian and evacuation corridors.
President Biden has called Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians “genocide,” while his administration has sent billions of dollars in aid and weapons to Ukraine to bolster its fight against Russia.
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