Russia halts gas flow to Finland, says Mariupol steelworks siege has ended

Russia stopped delivering gas to Finland in an escalation of a dispute over energy payments with Western nations, and claimed victory in a weeks-long battle for Mariupol’s devastated Azovstal steel plant as it presses for control of the Donbas.

Russia also launched what appeared to be a major assault to seize the last remaining Ukrainian-held territory in Luhansk, one of two provinces that make up the southeastern Donbas region: where Russian-backed separatists already controlled swathes of territory before the Feb. 24 invasion.

The last Ukrainian forces holed up in the Azovstal steelworks surrendered on Friday, Russia’s defense ministry said, ending the bloodiest siege of the war.

The ministry said in a statement that 2,439 defenders had surrendered in the past few days, including 531 in the final group. 

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s military had told the last defenders at the steelworks they could get out and save their lives. The Ukrainians did not immediately confirm the figures on Azovstal.

Ukraine’s General Staff of Armed Forces did not comment on Russia’s claim in its morning update on Saturday.

The end of fighting in Mariupol, the biggest city Russia has captured so far, gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a rare victory in the invasion after a series of setbacks in nearly three months of combat.

Zelenskiy told local television that while the fighting would be bloody and victory difficult, the end would only come through diplomacy.

“For them, all these victories – the occupation of Crimea or Donbas – is very temporary. And all this will return – since this is our territory,” he said on Saturday.

Full control of Mariupol will give Russia command of an overland route linking the Crimea peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with mainland Russia and areas of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russia separatists.

The Red Cross said it had registered hundreds of Ukrainians who surrendered at the Mariupol steel plant as prisoners of war and Kyiv says it wants a prisoner swap. Moscow says the prisoners will be treated humanely, but Russian politicians have been quoted as saying some must be tried or even executed.

GAS DISPUTE

Meanwhile, Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) halted gas exports to neighbouring Finland on Saturday after it refused to agree to Russian demands to pay for Russian gas

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