Putin ditches idea to attack Mariupol facility in favour of blockade

President Vladimir Putin called off preparations for the Russian military to raid the vast Azovstal steel factory in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and said on Thursday he wanted Ukrainian soldiers there to be hermetically shut in instead.

The last conquest of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian soldiers for weeks, is a vital aspect of Moscow’s ambitions to shut Ukraine off from the Sea of Azov and construct a land bridge connecting Russian-annexed Crimea to Russia.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region whose forces have been fighting in Mariupol, had suggested that the vast Azovstal facility, which covers over 11 square kilometres (4.25 square miles), would be stormed after Ukrainian forces holed up inside, ignored Russian offers to surrender.

But Putin, in a Kremlin meeting with Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, gave the order to put off the plan to assault it, saying it was preferable to preserve the lives of Russian soldiers and commanders and to sit back and wait till Ukrainian forces ran out of supplies.

“I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary,” Putin told Shoigu in a televised meeting at the Kremlin. “I order you to cancel it”.

“There is no need to venture into these dungeons and crawl down through these industrial facilities,” he told Shoigu.

“Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot travel through.” Putin urged the remaining Ukrainian forces in Azovstal to lie down their guns, saying Russia will treat them with respect and give medical aid to any injured.

Shoigu had earlier briefed Putin that over 2,000 Ukrainian forces were still holed up in the factory and that it may take three or four days to seize control of the facility.

Shoigu told Putin that Mariupol had symbolic importance for Russia because it was what he called the de facto headquarters of the far-right nationalist Azov battalion which Moscow has promised to destroy.

The Azovstal iron and steel factory, one of Europe’s biggest metallurgical complexes, is in an industrial district that faces out to the Sea of Azov. It houses a multiplicity of structures, blast furnaces and rail tracks and has substantial subsurface facilities too.

‘They are heroes’

Putin praised his defence minister for what he called the successful military operation to “liberate Mariupol” and requested him to pass on his appreciation to Russian servicemen.

“I want them all to know: in our thoughts, in the minds of all of Russia, they are heroes,” Putin stated.

Russia is expected to celebrate its annual victory day celebration on May 9, when it commemorates the World War Two Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany and is likely to hold up the full takeover of Mariupol when it happens as proof that it is achieving progress in Ukraine despite significant casualties.

Shoigu informed Putin that Russia had killed over 4,000 Ukrainian troops in its operation to seize Mariupol and that 1,478 had turned themselves up. He added Russia has evacuated 142,711 residents from the city too.

Putin instructed Shoigu for his ministry to come up with new recommendations for helping Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.

“We need to think about additional support measures, and sometimes, about perpetuating the memory of our comrades who showed heroism and sacrificed their lives for the peaceful life of our people in Donbas (eastern Ukraine) and to ensure the peaceful life and existence of Russia itself, the peaceful existence of our country,” Putin said.

Russia dispatched tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it dubbed a special military operation to undermine its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and drive out those it branded dangerous nationalists.

The Ukrainian military has offered tough resistance, and the West has placed sweeping sanctions on Moscow to convince it to remove its men.