INTERNATIONAL: Residents of Mariupol walked past the bodies of civilians as they evacuated their destroyed homes on Sunday 17th April, as Moscow said its forces had almost completely seized the port town.
Ukrainian soldiers resisted the Russian ultimatum to lay down arms in Mariupol, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the city had not been entirely taken by Russian forces.
"The city still has not fallen," he told ABC's "This Week" program, adding that Ukrainian soldiers continue to control some parts of the southeastern Ukrainian city.
A reporter asked a resident Irina if the army was evacuating them.
IRINA, SAYING: "Yes, we came to get out stuff. Nats (nationalists) tried to break in - looks like they failed. So we can get at least some of our stuff. We left (our apartment) wearing winter clothes - this was all we'd got."
Mariupol resident, Irina (no surname given), saying:
"My mother is non-ambulatory; my father is recovering after his second surgery. I don't know (what we are going to do), I have a daughter in DNR (self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic). Maybe we will try to move there, for time being. I hope they will re-build it (Mariupol). The most important thing is (to restore) utility systems. Summer will past fast and in winter it will be hard. She is wounded, got under shelling when she was entering our house. The child had got injured, her leg and head."
Russia said on Saturday 16th April it had control of urban areas, with some Ukrainian fighters remaining in the Azovstal steelworks overlooking the Sea of Azov.
Capturing Mariupol, the main port in the Donbas region, would be a strategic prize for Russia, connecting territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.
Citizens of the pulverized port fled their smashed and burnt homes, driven away by Russian-backed troops, leaving behind the bodies of citizens killed in the conflict.
About four million Ukrainians have fled the country, cities have been shattered and thousands have died since the start of the invasion on February 24.
Russia said Ukraine had lost more than 4,000 soldiers in Mariupol as of Saturday. Kyiv says its total troop losses nationwide so far in the war are less than that, between 2,500 and 3,000. Reuters has not been able to verify either side's figures.
PHOTO: DESTROYED BUILDINGS IN UKRAINIAN CITY OF MARIUPOL / BODIES LAYING ON GROUND / FAMILY BEING EVACUATED BY RUSSIA-BACKED TROOPS / COMMENTS BY MARIUPOL RESIDENTS / MILITARY VEHICLES OF RUSSIAN-BACKED TROOPS DRIVING ON ROAD FROM THE DIRECTION OF MARIUPOL
