Communications lost with the last defenders of Mariupol

Ukraine has lost contact with soldiers defending Mariupol’s stronghold of Azovstal amid reports of Russian troops storming the last pocket of resistance in the south east of the country.

“Unfortunately, we have lost touch with the guys and we can’t know if they are safe or not,” Vadym Boichenko, Mariupol’s mayor, said.

Unnamed security forces said Russian troops were now fighting inside the sprawling plant, which has withstood days of heavy shelling and artillery strikes, Ukrainska Pravda reported. In drone footage filmed by Moscow-backed eastern Ukrainian separatists, the factory was seen being pounded by what appears to be thermobaric bombs.

Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, said Ukrainian soldiers were “safely blocked” inside the plant. Meanwhile evidence of possible war crimes is emerging in Mariupol.

One such “crime scene” is Mariupol theatre that was being used as a shelter by hundreds of civilians when it was struck by a Russian bomb in March.