Russia advances in Donbas, halts Finland gas supply

Russia moved nearer to control over Ukraine's Donbas region, claiming victory in the months-long battle for Mariupol's steel plant and launching a major offensive on the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the province of Luhansk, reports Reuters.
The last Ukrainian forces holed up in Mariupol's smashed Azovstal steelworks surrendered on Friday, Russia's defense ministry said. That ended the most destructive siege of the war.
"The territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant ... has been completely liberated," the ministry said in a statement, adding that 2,439 defenders had surrendered in the past few days, including 531 in the final group.
Hours earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the last defenders at the steelworks had been told by Ukraine's military that they could get out and save their lives. The Ukrainians did not immediately confirm the figures on Azovstal.
Russia also launched what appeared to be a major assault to seize the last remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the province of Luhansk, one of two southeastern Ukrainian provinces Moscow proclaims as independent states.
"The Russian army has started very intensive destruction of the town of Sievierodonetsk, the intensity of shelling doubled, they are shelling residential quarters, destroying house by house," Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said on his Telegram channel.
In early hours on Saturday, air raid sirens were going off in much of Ukraine, including in the Kyiv capital region and the southern port of Odesa.
Capturing Luhansk and Donetsk  provinces, much of which make up Ukraine's industrial Donbas region, would allow Moscow to claim a victory after announcing last month that this was now its objective.
Despite losing ground elsewhere in recent weeks, Russian forces have advanced on the Luhansk front.
"This will be the critical next few weeks of the conflict," said Mathieu Boulegue, an expert at London's Chatham House think tank. "And it depends on how effective they are at conquering Sievierodonetsk and the lands across it."
Ukraine's general staff said it had pushed back an offensive on Sievierodonetsk, part of what it described as major Russian operations along a stretch of the front line.
In Moscow, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the "liberation of the Luhansk People's Republic" would be over soon.
The end of the Mariupol siege was an important symbolic moment for Russia, after a series of setbacks since the invasion began on Feb. 24, but it came at the cost of massive destruction.
Zelenskiy said the region had been "completely destroyed" by Russia and proposed a formal deal with the country's allies to secure Russian compensation for the damage its forces had caused.
Natalia Zarytska, wife of an Azovstal fighter who surrendered, said she had not heard from him since a Telegram message exchange two days ago. She believed he was still alive.