Russian forces have captured the area on the eastern outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday. Control of the strategic port city of Mariupol, which is home to 430,000 residents, has been a priority for Russia since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Residents of Mariupol have been living with no electricity, gas or water for over a week.

The siege of Mariupol has already claimed the lives of 1,582 people, officials in Mariupol said on Friday. A statement issued by the Mariupol mayor’s office said, “There is a humanitarian catastrophe in the city and the dead aren’t even being buried.”

READ: Situation in Mariupol turns critical: Here is everything we know so far

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s government accused Russia of shelling a maternity hospital in Mariupol, resulting in the deaths of three people.

UN’s crisis coordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad, told The Associated Press that aid convoys are finding it most difficult to enter Mariupol. Many such convoys carrying aid have been targeted by Russian shells.

In fact, several attempts to establish evacuation routes from the port city have failed.

Satellite image by Maxar Technologies shows heavily damaged grocery stores, shopping malls in Mariupol on March 9, 2022 | AP

The Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey has also issued a statement saying a group of 86 Turkish nationals, including 36 children, are among those who have sought shelter in a mosque in Mariupol.

In its statement on Saturday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence also said that Russian forces have suffered “huge losses” in “Polissya, Siversky, and Pivdennobuzhsky directions”.

The statement adds, “The enemy has established itself in the northern part of the city of Izyum, does not abandon attempts to capture it.

“In the Donetsk and Tavriya directions, the main efforts of the occupiers were focused on capturing the cities of Mariupol and Severodonetsk. The enemy captured the eastern outskirts of Mariupol.”

As per reports, the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain encircled amid heavy Russian shelling.