but ukrainian forces have had some success in repelling russian advances. in his nightly address, president zelensky denounced russia s army as barbaric and inhuman. he said it was unfair his government had to keep asking allies for more weapons to fight the invasion. meanwhile, in the city of mariupol, russia has given a fresh ultimatum to ukrainian soldiers, who are holed up in the azovstal steelworks complex, along with hundreds of civilians, to lay down their weapons by noon. the first of today s reports is from our correspondent, gareth barlow. this is the reality of russia s renewed offensive in the east of ukraine. lives ended, livelihoods reduced to rubble. these communities have wearily witnessed war for the past eight years, after russian backed rebels seized swathes of land in 2014. but now there s a new tempo far
surging forward on that eastern front line which is almost 300 miles long, but ukrainian say they are having some successes in defending their positions. the last ukrainian soldiers in the besieged port city of mariupol have rejected russia s demands to surrender. ukraine s government says bombs are pounding a steel plant which has become the final stronghold of resistance. 0ur correspondent in kyiv, mark lowen, has been speaking to a relative of one of the fighters inside the plant, desperately hoping for news that he s alive. distant explosions. in the fog of war, russia s ferocious firepower is unrelenting. the azovstal steel plant, still holding out against the siege of mariupol. perhaps a few hundred ukrainian troops are defending it. the commander calls it hell on earth.
0ur correspondent danjohnson is following developments from the western city of lviv. mariupol and that steel plant in the city seem to have become something of a last stand for ukrainian resistance in the south east port city. and we ve had an update from the deputy mayor of mariupol who has been speaking to the bbc in the last few minutes. he says there have been fresh assaults on that plant with russian backed fighters trying to take it over. he says he can confirm that there are some civilians sheltering there. he said there are people from nearby buildings that have been destroyed by russian shelling. some of the families of the workers at the steel plant. he said that they knew the bomb shelter there was well equipped and well protected, and that s why so many residents are actually staying in the basement of the steelworks. he said they were lacking everything that they needed. there was no water, food, medicine, and that russia was blocking any humanitarian assistance or evacua
but russia s army is huge and it can call on yet more firepower. that s why the uk, alongside countries including germany and the us, has promised to send further military aid. we will intensify our support for president zelensky and i propose that our long term goal must be to strengthen and fortify ukraine to the point where russia will never dare to invade again. despite pledges of support and a steadfast ukrainian resistance, russian forces continue to grind down the defenders, as seen in these images from a pro russian youtuber embedded with forces in mariupol. and, as seen from the air, above the azovstal steelworks, where a few hundred ukrainian fighters continue to cling onto resistance and their lives, despite russian demands for them to surrender. gareth barlow, bbc news.
soldiers there have been fighting on, despite the repeated ultimatums that have been given to surrender by the russian forces that surround that plant. we are told that they are still able to resist there, and that ultimatum has been given once again. the chance for those ukrainian soldiers to lay down their weapons and hand themselves over to the russians, but no sign of them having done that in the last two days when it was offered, so no reason to suppose that they will do it today. we are told that they continue to fight. and on the rest of the eastern front, we are told the ukrainians have had some success in repelling these latest russian advances. they lost the town of kreminna. the regional governors there said there wasn t actually much left to defend because the place had been reduced to rubble in the weeks of bombardment since the start of the invasion, but ukrainian forces have actually been able to retake a town, mar inka near donetsk, which the russian claimed yesterday.