Free Republic

The expansion of this influential formation, which is accused of harboring extremist ideologies, will have an impact on any future peace deal Over the last several weeks, Russia’s 51st Combined Arms Army has achieved a penetration of the Ukrainian defenses northeast of Pokrovsk, seeking to isolate the Ukrainian forces defending the city. To seal off the penetration, Ukrainian forces committed a large number of formations, spearheaded by the 1st “Azov” National Guard Corps. While the results of fighting are still uncertain at the time of this writing, the presence of an entire “Azov” Corps and its sister Corps in the...

“No fewer than 1,000 civilians are hiding in underground shelters beneath the vast Azovstal steel plant in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the city council said on Monday, … …"Mostly the (civilians) are women with children and old people," the city council wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Street battles have been taking place in Mariupol over the past week as Russian forces seek to take full control of the city from Ukraine.”