INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday claimed the "liberation" of the flattened city of Mariupol after nearly two months of fighting,
demanding that its trapped Ukrainian defenders be sealed up in their underground last stand.The fate of the besieged port has become
deprive Ukraine of its industrial heartland and most of its coastline.President Joe Biden, however, said Putin was doomed to failure in
Ukraine, as he announced $800 million in extra U.S
appealed for an immediate humanitarian corridor to allow civilians and wounded fighters to be evacuated from Mariupol's sprawling Azovstal
helped force Russia to deflect its offensive to eastern Ukraine and accentuated the devastating pressure on places like Mariupol on the
shores of the Sea of Azov."Mariupol has been liberated," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin during a televised meeting
"The remaining nationalist formations took refuge in the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant."Shoigu said around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers
trappedThousands of civilians are believed to have died in the city, and up to 2,000 others are also sheltering in the plant without access
to drinking water or food, according to Ukrainian authorities.Three school buses filled with Mariupol evacuees including women and children
arrived in Zaporizhzhia after crossing through territory held by Russian forces, AFP journalists saw.Putin said the "liberation" of Mariupol
was a "success" for Russian forces but ordered Shoigu to call off the planned storming of the industrial area, dismissing it as
"impractical.""There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities
Volodymyr Zelensky, said Putin's decision showed the Russians were "incapable of taking Azovstal."He said Russia had diverted forces further
north to reinforce the fight for all of Lugansk and Donetsk, two regions of Ukraine controlled by pro-Moscow separatists."They won't
succeed," Arestovych warned.The West staged another show of support for Zelensky with a visit to Kyiv by the Spanish and Danish prime
ministers, a day after European Council leader Charles Michel came and vowed the EU would do "everything possible" to help Ukraine win the
war.Germany, under fire for not giving more to Zelensky's government, said it had reached an agreement with eastern European partners to
indirectly supply Ukraine with a new batch of heavy weapons."It's about tanks, armoured vehicles, or other options individual countries are
able to give," Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said, explaining that Germany would then replenish those countries' stocks.The
Ukraine's fight against Russia."Bodies pile upIn all, according to new United Nations figures, at least 2,345 Ukrainian civilians have been
killed since Russia invaded on Feb
24.In morgues around the capital, the bodies of some 1,020 civilians are being stored after Russian troops withdrew from the region, Deputy
Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna told AFP.The bodies of nine civilians, some showing signs of torture, have been found in the town of
Borodyanka outside Kyiv, Ukrainian police said.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed revulsion as he visited the town."We will not
leave the Ukrainian people alone," he said, announcing 200 tons of Spanish military supplies.At a morgue in Bucha near Kyiv, families
carefully searched body bags and examined corpses, looking for missing loved ones.Four hundred bodies have been discovered there since the
Russians withdrew on March 31, local police chief Vitaly Lobas told AFP
Around a quarter of them are still unidentified.International snubsBut for all its military aid and outrage at alleged war crimes in
Ukraine, the West remains nervous about igniting a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.The Pentagon had said Ukraine was receiving
Treasury said it was extending a $500 million infusion of aid to help Ukraine's government pay salaries and pensions, and provide essential
services.At a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Washington, U.S
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen led a walkout of Western allies as Russian officials spoke.In London, organizers of the Wimbledon tennis
tournament banned Russian and Belarusian players from the 2022 event in response to the invasion.And a June meeting of the UN cultural
agency's World Heritage Committee scheduled to take place in the Russian city of Kazan has been postponed indefinitely, a senior UNESCO
source told AFP.Exodus, and returneesMore than 7.7 million people are estimated to have been internally displaced inside Ukraine, having
fled their homes but stayed within the country, the UN said.More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, it said, in
Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.But returns have also accelerated in recent weeks, reaching over 1 million, according to a
pummelled village of Moshchun."We found a booby trap in our garden
We don't know," said Klymenko, whose home was destroyed
"Still, we need to look for our stuff."
