Russia has unleashed heavy artillery barrages against multiple Ukrainian positions in the south and east of the country, amid conflicting claims over whether Russian forces were attempting to storm the last Ukrainian positions in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.


While Ukrainian officials and fighters claimed that Russian troops had entered the labyrinthine industrial area in the southern city and that heavy fighting was taking place inside, the Kremlin denied this and said humanitarian corridors were operating there on Thursday to evacuate trapped civilians.

According to Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov regiment, Ukrainian forces inside Azovstal are conducting "tough, brutal engagements" within the factory.

The plant was attacked with air support, according to Ukraine's military general command, and photographs posted by Russian-backed militants appeared to show smoke and flames encircling it.

When asked about the claim that Russian military had entered the plant's territory, Dmitry Peskov, the official Kremlin spokesman, pointed reporters to President Vladimir Putin's previous command not to storm the plant.

When asked about a New York Times allegation that US intelligence assisted Ukraine in the assassination of many Russian generals, Peskov responded, "The United States, Britain, and Nato as a whole hand over intelligence... to Ukraine's military forces on a permanent basis."

"These acts, when combined with the flow of weaponry that these nations are delivering to Ukraine, do not contribute to the operation's rapid conclusion," he stated.

eskov's remarks came after Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, warned civilians would have to be rescued from bunkers beneath the steelworks, which are covered with concrete debris.

About 200 civilians, along with fighters, are believed to be trapped in the massive Soviet-era complex's network of underground bunkers, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russia has intensified attacks in southern and eastern Ukraine after failing to conquer the capital, Kyiv, in the early weeks of an invasion that has killed hundreds and levelled cities and villages.

Last month, Putin cancelled plans for an attack on the plant, instead instructing his defence minister to seal it off.