{O/C} Mariupol's embattled steel plant is now in the maw of Russia.
Russia's Defence Minister has reported the "complete liberation" of the Azovstal steel plant, with Russia's state news agency reporting over 2,000 Ukrainian troops there had capitulated.
While time may have come for its endgame, the strategic port city has been rendered a singed wasteland after an excruciating 3-month battle, with over 20,000 perished.
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The Azovstal steelworks took a final drubbing on Friday, the apparent beginning of the end to the siege that beat Ukraine's east to a pulp.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Putin that 2,439 Ukrainians in all surrendered after taking shelter there for weeks.
Subsequently, they were taken captive by Moscow. Some were transported to a penal colony while others were hospitalised with the plant's commander hauled off in an armoured vehicle.
The defence of the steel mill had been leveraged by Russia as the battle against Nazism in the smouldering country continues to plow on.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to try some of the Ukrainian fighters there for war crimes, branding them "Nazis" and miscreants.
The steelworks that sprawled across 11 square kilometres had been the main site of the ferocious battle between the dwindling outgunned fighters and Russian troops.
The complete takeover of Mariupol hands victory to Putin on a plate after the war got off to a sizzling start on February 24 in what was supposed to have been a lightning blitz.
The battle has witnessed the glaring failure to capture Kyiv, Russian forces being refocused on eastern Ukraine as well as the devastating sinking of Russia's flagship of its Black Sea Fleet.
Military analysts believe Mariupol's takeover takes primacy as the city has already been fraying around the edges at the hands of the Russians.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to fight on to scrape away the rapacious invaders and ensure Ukraine's sovereignty.
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