The situation in Mariupol is extremely difficult, basically, the city is under the control of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, speaker of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Motuzianyk said.

"The situation in Mariupol is extremely difficult. The occupiers continue to block our units in the area of the Azovstal plant, block humanitarian corridors. The only thing is that there are certain agreements on organizing an evacuation corridor today. Basically, the city is under control of Russian armed forces, where Russian soldiers commit crimes, they are trying to carry out measures to filter the population. We have reports that the population is forcibly taken to the territory of the Russian Federation," Motuzianyk said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.