PUTIN CLAIMS MARIUPOL WIN BUT WON'T STORM UKRAINIAN HOLDOUT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the strategic city of Mariupol on Thursday, even as he ordered his troops not to risk more losses by storming the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the war’s iconic battleground.

FILE - A Ukrainian national flag, military helmet and medical documents are seen on a table at a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. On Thursday, April 21, 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces not to storm the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged city of Mariupol but to block it “so that not even a fly comes through.” (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)