Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ally has said they will seize the Mariupol steel plant that is the last main stronghold of resistance in the besieged city on Thursday after Ukraine proposed talks on evacuating troops and civilians there.

It is reported that Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by the Russian troops since invading Ukraine eight weeks ago in an attack that has taken longer than some military analysts expected.

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“Before lunchtime, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation,” Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s republic of Chechnya, whose forces have been fighting in Ukraine, said of the steel plant.

Reuters reported that a few dozen civilians managed to leave the strategically important southeastern port on Wednesday in a small bus convoy, escaping the fiercest battle of the war.

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On Wednesday, Serhiy Volny, a Ukrainian marine commander said that fighters at the steel works may not be able to hold out for much longer. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said an estimated 1,000 civilians are also sheltering there.

Ukraine is ready for a “special round of negotiations” with no conditions “to save our guys, (the far right) Azov (battalion), military, civilians, children, the living and the wounded,” negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.

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Fighters remain holed up in the plant and have ignored an ultimatum by Russia to surrender. David Arakhamia, a second negotiator, said in an online post that he and Podolyak were in constant contact with Ukrainian forces in the city.

“Today, in a conversation with the city defenders, a proposal was put forward to hold direct negotiations, on site, on the evacuation of our military garrison,” he said. “For our part, we are ready to arrive for such negotiations at any time as soon as we receive confirmation from the Russian side.”

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Fewer civilians than hoped left on Wednesday, according to the authorities.

Ukraine said it had so far held off an assault by thousands of Russian troops attempting to advance in what Kyiv calls the Battle of the Donbas, a new campaign to seize two eastern provinces Moscow claims on behalf of separatists.

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Russia’s forces had carried out strikes on dozens of military facilities in eastern Ukraine and had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near the village of Koroviy Yar, its defence ministry said.

On Wednesday, Russia conducted a first test launch of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new and long-awaited addition to its nuclear arsenal.