KYIV: Russia said its troops had cleared the urban area of Mariupol and only a small contingent of Ukrainian fighters remained inside a steelworks in the besieged southern port, as missile strikes hit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other cities.

Moscow’s claim to have all but taken control of Mariupol, scene of the war’s heaviest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe, could not be independently verified.

It would be the first major city to have fallen to Russian forces since the Feb. 24 invasion, Reuters reported.

“The situation is very difficult” in Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Ukrainska Pravda news portal. “Our soldiers are blocked, the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis … Nevertheless, the guys are defending themselves.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry said if Ukrainian forces in the Azovstal steelworks lay down their arms starting at 0300 GMT on Sunday, their lives would be spared, Tass news agency said.

A senior Russian officer was quoted as saying the offer, made after weeks of fierce fighting, was prompted by “the catastrophic situation” in the steelworks as well as “purely humane principles”.

(Inputs from Reuters)