War Ukraine - Russia, live breaking news | Ukraine proposes to negotiate with Russia in the besieged city of Mariupol

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marks 55 days

,

is convinced that today will be the day it seizes the

steel plant , the last bastion of the resistance in the besieged city.

's main ally

in the

, Chechen leader

, whose forces have been fighting in

.

A conviction that comes hours after Ukraine proposed to

to hold a "special round" of negotiations with

in

in search of a solution to end the

.

update narration

06.02.

General Kadyrov assures that the fall of Mariupol is a matter of hours: "It will be before lunch"

Russian forces have vowed to seize the

steel plant , the last resistance stronghold in the besieged city, after

proposed to hold a "special round" of negotiations with

in the besieged city.

Mariupol

would be the largest city taken by

since it invaded

eight weeks ago in an attack that took longer than some military analysts expected, saw more than five million people flee abroad and turned towns and cities to rubble.

"Before lunchtime, or after lunch,

will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation,"

, head of the Russian republic of Chechnya, whose forces have been fighting , said of the steel plant.

in Ukraine.

's fiercest battle

.

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6.00

Ukraine proposes to negotiate with Russia in the besieged city of Mariupol

Ukraine

proposed on Wednesday to hold a "special round" of negotiations with

in the beleaguered city of Mariupol, a senior Kiev official said.

"Yes, without any conditions. We are ready to hold a 'special round of negotiations' right in Mariupol," senior Ukrainian negotiator and presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak said on Twitter.

Another Ukrainian negotiator, David Arakhamia, said on Telegram that he and Podoliak "are ready to come to Mariupol for talks with the Russian side on the evacuation of our military garrison and civilians."

"To save our boys, the Azov [battalion], the soldiers, the civilians, the children, the living and the wounded. The whole world," he added.

Russia summoned the last Ukrainian soldiers in the port city of Mariupol, entrenched in the huge Azovstal industrial complex, to lay down their weapons before 2:00 p.m. from Moscow (11:00 GMT).

"We are living perhaps our last days or our last hours... The enemy outnumbers us ten to one," said Ukrainian commander Serguiy Volyna, of the 36th Marine Brigade, from the underground corridors of that large metallurgical factory.

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