civilians trapped in that war-torn city. he said quote we are ready for any formats for exchange. i am ready for the dialogue. zelenskyy also said that ukrainian fighters in mariupol need serious and heavy weapons soon, and urged the west not to delay any shipments. he said his forces do not have enough of these weapons and are unable to unblock the russian siege of the crucial seaside port without help from western allies. joining us now, nbc foreign correspondent raf sanchez joins us live from lviv ukraine. raf, if we just played a few moments ago, within the last hour or so, putin declared success in mariupol this morning. and suggested a change in tactics with that steel plant that he said that they should not conduct an all-out invasion. tell us what we ve learned, and why do we think putin has made that change of heart?
zelenskyy also said ukrainian fighters in mariupol need serious and heavy weapons soon, urging the west not to delay any shipments. he said his forces do not have enough of these weapons and are unable to unblock, as he said, the russian siege of the crucial seaside port without help from western allies. joining us now nbc foreign correspondent raf sanchez, live for us again this morning from lviv, ukraine. raf, good morning. what s the latest. could there be some sort of a diplomatic exchange here between ukraine and russia to easy the situation in mariupol? willie, it is not looking likely. vladimir putin appearing with his defense minister this morning says his forces have successfully, quote, liberated mariupol. now, that is one way to describe what they have done in that city. as you said, putin says he no longer sees any need to storm that steel plant where ukrainian forces are holed up.
the question remains houngs with can the civilians hold out, food, water, medicine still a concern. putin calling this a success, also saying he has liberated the people of mariupol. tens of thousands of civilians have been killed there. meanwhile, ukraine is accusing russian forces of bombing a makeshift hospital in mariupol near that steel factory. authorities say the hospital is treating about 300 people including children, and now many of them are trapped under the rubble. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskiy is calling the crisis in mariupol, quote, extremely severe and says he s open to a diplomatic solution including an exchange of russian prisoners in return for civilians trapped in mariupol. zelenskyy renewed calls for western allies to send additional serious and heavy weapons, in his words, to help ukrainian fighters in that seaside port, saying they are unable to, quote, unblock mariupol without the help of allies. earlier this morning we spoke with retired navy master
and as for now, they still are in mariupol. the city s police chief said million civilians including children are also sheltering at the steel plant, which stretches for more than four square miles. the plant is the last line of defense preventing russian forces from taking over the crucial seaside port. the fall of mariupol would be a significant victory for russia as it would allow the kremlin to establish a land corridor from the east to crimea, which it invaded and has controlled since 2014. local officials say over 100,000 civilians remain trapped in the city and face a humanitarian crisis with severe food shortages, of food, water and medicine. jonathan, actually you have that. you have the russians, of course, focusing on indiscriminate attacks in lviv. you have the russians focusing on indiscriminate attacks in kyiv. again, no military strategy,
the mayor of mariupol says that more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in the city. since the russian siege started six weeks ago. speaking to the associated press yesterday, the mayor also warned that the death toll could eventually surpass 20,000. describing the horrors that his city is facing, he said corpses were quote carpeted through the streets. the mayor also accused russian forces of deliberately blocking the humanitarian convoys from entering the city in part to conceal the carnage from the outside world. the mayor also said russian forces are using mobile cremation, the seaside port encircled by russian troops for more than a month now have seen some of the world s worst attacks and 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the city and facing severe shortages of food and water. the prosecutor general of ukraine says her office is now investigating 5800 cases of war