Russian president Vladimir Putin has declared victory in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, despite continued conflict between troops on the ground.
The move comes as the Kremlin ordered Russian soldiers not to shell the city's steel mill, with Putin suggesting a more sinister end for the 2000 soldiers and civilians holed up inside.
"There's no need to climb under catacombs and crawl underground," he said of the network of tunnels running beneath the complex.
"Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape."
Mariupol is crucial territory for Russia, connecting Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, with the eastern Ukrainian regions that are home to Russian separatists and which Putin claims to have "liberated".
But Ukrainian forces are holding strong.
"If our soldiers fall, 10,000 Russian troops will head north and help to occupy Donbas. So the boys in Mariupol are carrying out a huge and important mission," said commander Konstantin Nemichev.
Thousands of Ukrainians are still trapped in the city as humanitarian corridors are too dangerous to use.
"Hell is what's happening there, it's not possible to just retell it. Russians are killing people for nothing," said one man as he stepped off a bus that had managed to leave the city.
Others claim they had to endure dozens of Russian road blocks, where they were photographed and sometimes strip searched by soldiers looking for any Ukrainian military markings such as tattoos.
Newly released satellite images show what appears to be a mass grave not far from Mariupol.
The Mariupol mayor claimed local residents were killed by Russian soldiers.
"Russians are taking our citizens there in huge trucks. All those citizens are killed by the Russian Federation, and Russian Federation is hiding war crimes there," said Vadym Boychenko.
Ukraine continues to plead for more aid - humanitarian and military - from European allies and the United States.
US President Joe Biden on Friday announced another $1.1 billion worth of weapons, ammunition and drones was on the way.
"We're sending it directly to the front lines of freedom, to the fearless and skilled Ukrainian fighters who are standing in the breach," he said.
But Ukraine will need much more – 10 times that, according to Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky – just to keep its defensive efforts going.
The United States has also announced it's opening up a humanitarian programme to around 100,000 Ukrainians, offering them the opportunity to relocate to the US.
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