Last stand in Mariupol fight to death

UKRAINIAN marines are engaged in desperate "bloody battles” at the besieged Mariupol steelworks as photos appear to show advancing Russians bombing the plant.

- Mark Reynolds

With smoke pouring above the compound, Vladimir Putin's troops forced their way in for the first time since the struggle for control began.

The Ukrainian army said heavily armed Kremlin troops were trying to "destroy” the remaining marines, thought to number 1,500.

The steelworks is the last enclave of the city held by President Volodymyr Zelensky's army.

Securing Mariupol would give Putin a land bridge from the mainland to the Crimean peninsula.

More importantly, it would free up a large number of Russian troops who have previously been pinned down by the defenders in the city.

The beleaguered defending commander from the Azov regiment within the Azovstal steel plant which has become a symbol of Ukrainian defiance - admitted there were “heavy, bloody battles”.

Proud