Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his soldiers to surround Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol, which is under siege.

Mr Putin ordered forces to suspend plans to storm the massive Azovstal steel complex in the region, where Ukraine is still fighting back.

The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, a vast four-square-mile (10-square-kilometer) complex in Mariupol’s south-east, has become the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the city. The plant houses both civilians and fighters.

For weeks, Russian forces have been attempting to evict them.

Toby Luckhurst of the BBC has been reporting from Lviv, western Ukraine, on Mr Putin’s apparent change of heart and Ukrainian defiance.

While Russia boasts about isolating Ukrainian defenders in Azovstal, they keep in touch with the outside world, reporting on conditions inside the massive steelworks.

Military and civilians were hiding in multiple basements in the complex, according to Captain Svyatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Battalion at the complex, which he and his comrades were unable to approach.

He stated, “We know there are small children there as young as three months old.”

Russian forces have attempted to demolish them with artillery and massive bunker-busting bombs in recent days, but all of the attacks have failed, according to Capt Palamar.

He went on to say that over 500 seriously wounded fighters need medical assistance, and that the bodies of the deceased remained unburied.

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