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By yesterday, it looked like the battle for Mariupol was over in all but name when Zelensky sent word to his own troops to get out if they were able. The steel mill where the fighters, along with thousands of civilians had been holed up has been mostly shelled into rubble. Finally, the wounded were removed on stretchers and a significant number of the remaining troops turned themselves over to the Russian forces. Reportedly, many of them were loaded onto buses to a prison camp in Russian-held territory. But there are still thousands of Russian prisoners of war being held...

Nearly 1,000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who had held out inside Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant have surrendered, Russian said Wednesday, as the battle ... drew toward a close....The Ukrainian fighters trooping out of the ruined Azovstal steelworks that became the last stronghold of resistance in the city face an uncertain fate. Some were taken by the Russians to a former penal colony in territory controlled by Moscow-backed separatists....Russia’s main federal investigative body said it intends to interrogate the surrendering troops to “identify the nationalists” and determine whether they were involved in crimes against civilians.The Russian parliament was scheduled to consider a...

The Russia-controlled Donetsk administration said over 900 Ukrainian troops surrendered the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, a figure much larger than previously reported. "In total, 962 Ukrainian militants surrendered from the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol," the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Territorial Defense Headquarters said. Mixed reports have emerged concerning the number of Ukrainian personnel that were evacuated from the plant upon its surrender, as early estimates put the figure between a few hundred and 1,000, Ukraine's military said.

Can Ukraine Really Defeat Russia? – Over the past few days, a flurry of senior leaders in both Ukraine and Washington have issued defiant claims of not merely resisting Russian aggression, but pushing towards outright victory. While such aspirations are entirely understandable, it is unwise to set policy seeking a preferred outcome if there does not exist a rational path by which Ukraine could accomplish that objective. At present, most indicators, fundamentals of war, and current battlefield trendlines support the prospect of a Ukrainian defeat. At a speech on Monday on Ukraine’s “Victory Day,” commemorating the World War II defeat...