All eyes are on the city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, which is swaying like a rock at the top of a mountain, and is almost quickly falling into the hands of the Russian, Chechen and separatist forces loyal to Moscow, after the latter's focus on targeting it was clear during the days of the ongoing war on Ukraine since last February 24.

On the other hand, Ukraine adheres to the city, and its forces refuse to surrender to the Russians, and to respond to calls to lay down arms, surrender or leave, despite the difficult conditions of these forces, and the “impossibility” of supporting them with weapons and supplies, as officials assert, which prompts the question again about the strategic importance of Mariupol, and what might It means Russia's control over it in military terms as well.

Strategic importance

Mariupol is the second most important city in the Donetsk region of Donbass region, which the separatists declared a "people's republic" in 2014, and the tenth Ukrainian city in terms of an area of ​​about 244 square kilometers, in which more than half a million people lived before the war.

With its geographical location, which is only 55 kilometers from the Russian border, Mariupol is of strategic importance for Moscow, which has been seeking, since 2014, to create a land road linking its territory with the occupied Crimea, which was actually achieved after its forces took control of a coastal strip in the neighboring Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in the West.

Mariupol is Ukraine's most prominent window on the Sea of ​​Azov, and its loss means turning the sea into a Russian lake, especially after Russia's control of the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk in the neighboring Zaporizhia region.

The port of Mariupol is the largest port of the Sea of ​​Azov, and was the main crossing point for Ukrainian exports to the world, after the port of Odessa on the Black Sea.

The loss of Mariupol means the loss of 40% of the mining industry in Ukraine in favor of Russia, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy.

A blow to the military leadership

According to military experts, the control of Mariupol opens up for Russia broader horizons from the military point of view, according to which it will deal a strong blow to Ukraine and increase threats to it.

The cities of Mariupol and Kramatosk have been the main centers of the leadership of the Ukrainian forces in their operations against the separatist forces in the Donetsk region since 2014, and their fall means the loss of the most prominent and fortified sites in the region.

"Russia's control of Mariupol means opening a strong third front against the Ukrainian resistance in the Donetsk region," according to military analyst Vladislav Vitko to Al Jazeera Net.

- Vitko said, "The first of these fronts is the eastern separatist front, which has already been open in the region for years, and the second is from the Kharkiv region in the north, which Russian forces have been trying for weeks to control its southern axes bordering Donetsk and then advance towards it, and the third is from Mariupol in the south, with reinforcements. It comes directly from the Sea of ​​Azov or Crimea.

According to Vitko, "Control of Mariupol may encourage Russian forces to advance deeper into Ukrainian territory, especially in the neighboring Zaporizhia region to the west, and even into the Dnepropetrovsk region in the northwest."

- The military expert also considered that "Russia urgently needs to achieve some victory, to fill the gap of the great losses in its forces, and the inability to advance on several fronts, and for this the important Mariupol will be that symbolic victory in front of the people and soldiers, even if the price is its destruction and the practical end of its existence." , According to him.

Vitko believes that "Ukraine will be desperate to defend Mariupol and Donbass in general, because its fall will necessarily mean the transition of the war to new areas, if it does not cost the Russian side the greatest losses."