KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he will meet Sunday in Kyiv with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.Russian forces attacked a steel plant in the shattered Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, apparently seeking to eliminate the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the strategic city the Kremlin claims its military has otherwise seized.
Ukrainian officials have estimated that about 2,000 of their troops are inside the plant along with the civilians sheltering in the facility's underground tunnels. Arestovic said the Ukrainian forces were trying to counter the new attacks. Both Ukrainian and Russian authorities have said the Azovstal plant is the last remaining defense stronghold in Mariupol, which has strategic importance to Moscow and has been under siege since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials had said they were trying again Saturday to evacuate women, children and older adults from Mariupol after many previous attempts failed. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the messaging app Telegram that the effort was to get underway at midday, but it wasn't clear how the new assault on the plant would affect any possible evacuation.
"Units of Russian occupiers are regrouping. Russian enemy continues to launch missile and bomb strikes on military and civilian infrastructure," the General Staff said on its Facebook page. Russia still has not established air or sea control due to Ukrainian resistance, and despite Putin's declaration of victory in Mariupol,"heavy fighting continues to take place, frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city, thus further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas," the Ministry of Defense said.
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