Ukraine: What happened today, Thursday, April 21?

Ukrainian officials have scoffed at a declaration from Vladimir Putin that 'the completion of combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success'

Servicemen of the Donetsk People's Republic militia look at bodies of Ukrainian soldiers placed in plastic bags in a tunnel, part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, the second largest metallurgical enterprise in Ukraine, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupo. Picture: AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov

President Vladimir Putin declared Russian victory in the battle for Mariupol on Thursday, even as he ordered his troops not to risk more losses by storming a steel plant in which some last Ukrainian holdouts in the city are located. 

Instead, Putin directed his troops to blockade the Azovstal plant “so that not even a fly comes through".