Russia pressures Mariupol as it focuses on Ukraine’s east

Servicemen of Donetsk People’s Republic militia walk past damaged vehicles during heavy fighting in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine (Alexei Alexandrov/AP)

Russian forces have pressured a stubborn pocket of resistance in Mariupol amid renewed hopes for an evacuation of thousands of civilians from the shattered port city that is a key battleground in Moscow’s new onslaught to take control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.

In addition to pounding Mariupol, Russian forces have intensified their attacks along a boomerang-shaped front hundreds of miles long in what is known as the Donbas, home to coal mines, metal plants and factories vital to Ukraine’s economy.