During the siege, Russian forces launched lethal airstrikes on a maternity hospital and a theatre where civilians had taken shelter. It could also free up Russian forces to fight elsewhere in the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland that the Kremlin is bent on capturing. The Russian victory, though, is mostly symbolic, said Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. But because the Azovstal defenders' "incredible resistance" tied down Russian troops, Ukraine can also claim that it came out on top. Ukraine has accused Russian forces of torturing and killing civilians.

Source: New Zealand Herald May 17, 2022 22:19 UTC