A fierce battle broke out at the Azoustal Works, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian army defending the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.



According to the British Guardian and BBC, the commander of the Azou Regiment, Dennis Prokopenko, said in a video distributed via Telegram that the Ukrainian forces were engaged in a "hard blood battle" with the Russians for two days in a row.



"I'm proud of the soldiers who work superhuman to defeat the enemy's offensive," he said, "but it's a very difficult situation."



"In the Mariupol region, the Russian aggressor forces are focusing their efforts on stopping and destroying the Ukrainian units of Azoustal," the Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook today (5th). We are getting support.”



According to AFP news agency, Mariupol Mayor Vadim Wojchenko said in an interview with local broadcaster yesterday, "Unfortunately, a fierce battle is taking place in Azoustal."



"I have lost contact with the troops at the steel mill," he said. "There is no way to know if they are safe."



"Russia is attacking with large-caliber artillery, tanks and fighters, and warships have also joined the attack from the sea side," he added.





A thermobaric bomb is also called a 'vacuum bomb' because it burns up the surrounding air during the explosion process. Directly targeting civilians is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.



Kremlin spokeswoman Dmitry Peskov denied reports that Russian troops were attacking the steelworks, saying that "President Putin has publicly ordered an end to the occupation operation."



The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that it will open a humanitarian channel after a three-day ceasefire from May 5 to 7 to evacuate the remaining civilians from the steelworks.