The destiny of the town is hanging on an unknown variety of defenders making their final stand at an iron and metal plant.
Along with pounding the holdout in Mariupol, Russian forces have intensified their assaults elsewhere within the Donbas, residence to coal mines, steel crops and factories important to Ukraine's financial system.
Main Serhiy Volyna, commander of Ukraine's thirty sixth Separate Marine Brigade, appealed for assist from world leaders in a dramatic video launched on Wednesday.
"I've an announcement to the world," he mentioned.
"It might be my final assertion, as a result of we have now just a few days, and even hours, left.
"The enemy's models are 10 instances bigger than ours.
"They've supremacy within the air, artillery, and models which might be dislocated on the bottom, tools, and tanks."
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The Ukrainian commander estimated that there have been "lots of of civilians" sheltering on the territory of the plant, together with 500 wounded army personnel struggling for medical care.
"We attraction to world leaders to use the extraction process to the army of the Mariupol garrison, to the civilians who're with us right here on the plant," he mentioned.
"We ask you to take us to the territory of a 3rd nation and supply us with safety."
A couple of thousand Ukrainian troops, by the Russians' estimate, remained holed up within the metal plant.
The Russian aspect issued a brand new ultimatum to the defenders to give up Wednesday, however the Ukrainians have ignored calls for to depart the plant's labyrinth of tunnels and bunkers.
Even amid the Russian onslaught, there have been renewed hopes on Wednesday of an evacuation of 1000's of civilians from the shattered port metropolis.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko has urged locals to depart the town, although earlier such agreements have fallen aside, with Russians stopping buses meant to select up evacuees from getting into the town or shelling escape routes.
"Don't be frightened and evacuate to Zaporizhzhia, the place you possibly can obtain all of the provide help to want — meals, medication, necessities — and the principle factor is that you'll be in security," he wrote in an announcement issued by the town council.
Officers have given various estimates of how many individuals stay within the metropolis, which had a pre-war inhabitants of greater than 400,000.
Cr Boychenko mentioned about half had fled and requested those that needed to contact family nonetheless within the metropolis and urge them to evacuate, saying buses could be offered and one pickup level could be close to the Azovstal metal mill.
Mariupol's fall would deprive Ukraine of an important port, full a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014, and unencumber Russian troops to maneuver elsewhere within the Donbas.
If profitable, Russia's offensive within the Donbas would carve Ukraine in two and provides President Vladimir Putin a badly wanted victory following the failed try by Moscow's forces to storm the capital, Kyiv, and stronger-than-expected resistance within the almost two-month warfare.
However analysts say it might additionally devolve right into a grim warfare of attrition as Russia makes an attempt to defeat Ukraine's most skilled, battle-hardened troops who have already got been combating pro-Moscow separatist forces for eight years within the largely Russian-speaking Donbas.
With that probably pivotal offensive underway, Russia mentioned Wednesday it had introduced Ukraine with a draft doc outlining its calls for as a part of talks geared toward ending the battle — days after Mr Putin mentioned the negotiations had been at a "useless finish".
"The ball is in (the Ukrainians') court docket, we're ready for a response," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised a convention name with reporters.
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He gave no particulars on the draft, and it was not clear when the Russian doc was despatched or if it supplied something new to the Ukrainians, who introduced their very own calls for final month.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser mentioned Kyiv was reviewing the proposals.