\n Key developments in the battle for the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol where more than 1,700 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered to Russian forces after holding out for weeks inside a steelworks.\n<\/p>\n
\n Located on the Sea of Azov, the city, which had a population of 441,000 before the war, is a key prize for Russia in its bid to connect the annexed Crimea peninsula to the west with territory held by pro-Russian rebels in the east.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Pounded, encircled -\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 2, a week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's artillery begins pounding Mariupol.\n<\/p>\n
\n The mayor accuses Russian forces and pro-Russian fighters of seeking to \"impose a blockade\" by cutting off food supplies and vital infrastructure, including water, electricity and heating.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Maternity ward bombed -\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 9, Russia targets a building housing a maternity ward and paediatric hospital in Mariupol, killing three people, including a young girl.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukraine and the European Union accuse Russia of a war crime. Russia claims the building is sheltering Ukrainian nationalists and that a heavily pregnant woman photographed being rescued is an actress.\n<\/p>\n
\n - First evacuations -\n<\/p>\n
\n Mid-March sees the start of the evacuation of thousands of civilians from the city through a humanitarian corridor.\n<\/p>\n
\n Earlier evacuation attempts had collapsed with both sides accusing the other of failing to halt fire.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Theatre destroyed -\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 16, Russian air strikes raze a theatre sheltering hundreds of people, mostly women and children. It takes days to reach survivors trapped in an underground shelter.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukrainian authorities estimate some 300 people were killed.\n<\/p>\n
\n Moscow denies the attack, blaming Ukraine's far-right Azov battalion, which is based in the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Hellish battle to survive -\n<\/p>\n
\n On March 21, Kyiv rejects a first Russian ultimatum to Ukrainian forces in the city to surrender.\n<\/p>\n
\n Civilians who manage to escape in their own vehicles describe apocalyptic scenes of streets riddled with dead bodies and a hellish struggle to survive starvation, thirst and cold amid relentless Russian bombardments.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Last battle' -\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 4, Mariupol's mayor says the city has been 90 percent destroyed.\n<\/p>\n
\n A week later, Ukrainian forces say they are preparing for a \"last battle\" at the sprawling Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of resistance to Russian control of the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n Over the following week, Russia issues a string of ultimatums to the troops at Azovstal to give themselves up but they refuse.\n<\/p>\n
\n Regional authorities say the death toll in the city could exceed 20,000 people.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Mariupol 'liberated' -\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the \"liberation\" of Mariupol to be a \"success.\" He orders the Russian military to refrain from storming the Azovstal plant, telling them to besiege it instead, \"so that not even a fly can escape\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - Women, children rescued -\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 7, Ukraine's government announces that all women, children and the elderly sheltering in the plant have been evacuated, amounting to nearly 500 people.\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 9, pro-Russian forces in Mariupol hold a parade through the ruined streets to commemorate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany during World War II.\n<\/p>\n
\n Five days later, a Ukrainian group, Kalush Orchestra, wins the Eurovision song contest and uses the platform to appeal for help for the soldiers holed up inside Azovstal.\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 17, a first group of more than 260 Ukrainian soldiers surrenders to Russian forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n They are taken captive by Russian forces, with the wounded admitted to a hospital in a Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region.\n<\/p>\n
\n By May 19, 1,730 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered, according to Moscow. Their fate is uncertain. Ukraine wants to swap them for Russian prisoners of war but a pro-Russian separatist leader suggests some will be put on trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Key developments in the battle for the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol where more than 1,700 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered to Russian forces after holding out for weeks inside a steelworks. Located on the Sea of Azov, the city, which had a population of 441,000 before the war, is a key prize for Russia in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-92479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n