The president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has resigned. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to claim victory in the vital port of Mariupol, despite orders not to attack the final pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the war's most famous battleground.

        Since the beginning of the conflict, Russian soldiers have encircled and largely destroyed the southeastern city, and top authorities have frequently stated that it was ready to fall, but Ukrainian forces have steadfastly held on. They were holed up in a large steel complex in recent weeks, and Russian military bombarded the industrial facility, issuing repeated ultimatums for the defenders to surrender.

        Putin said he would not risk sending soldiers into the maze of tunnels beneath the massive Azovstal facility for the time being, preferring instead to isolate the lone wolves who have caught the world's attention "such that not even a fly comes through." His military minister said the plant had been shut down, while also predicting that the location would be seized in days.

        Putin's directive might indicate that Russian officials are seeking to wait until the defenders run out of food or weapons before surrendering. Bombings against the factory are likely to continue.

        Even though Putin declared the operation to seize Mariupol a success and declared the city "liberated," he cannot claim victory until the plant falls.

        About 2,000 Ukrainian forces remained at the factory, which contains a maze of tunnels and bunkers spanning 11 square kilometers, according to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (4 square miles). Around 1,000 citizens are also stranded, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

        Separatists supported by Russia in the area earlier appeared hell-bent on capturing every inch of the city, which has experienced some of the war's most spectacular combat and whose conquest is both strategic and symbolic.

        The fundamental purpose of the conflict, according to Russian authorities, is to capture the Donbas, Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland. Moscow's forces launched a new phase of the conflict this week, launching a devastating offensive along a front stretching from Kharkiv in the northeast to the Azov Sea in the south. Detaching the area from the rest of Ukraine would offer Putin a much-needed triumph two months into the conflict, following the disastrous assault on Kyiv's capital and growing Russian losses.

        According to the United Kingdom's Defense Ministry, Russia is likely seeking to display substantial achievements ahead of Victory Day on May 9, the proudest day on the annual calendar commemorating Russia's pivotal part in the victory of World War II.

        "This might have an impact on how fast and violently they try to undertake operations in the lead up to this date," the ministry stated.

        Putin's remarks, according to retired British Rear Admiral Chris Parry, reflect a shift in "operational approach" as Russia tries to learn from its mistakes during the eight-week conflict, which morphed from initial hopes of a lightning-fast invasion of a neighbor into a war of attrition with ever-increasing casualties and costs.

        "It appears to me that the Russian aim today is not to conquer these very difficult spots where the Ukrainians can hold out in the urban centers," Parry said, "but to try and seize land and also to encircle the Ukrainian forces and announce a tremendous success."

        Meanwhile, Western nations are stepping up their support for Ukraine, deploying more military assets and raising geopolitical stakes.

        Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the latest in a long line of Western politicians to visit Kyiv, stated Thursday: "One of the most significant signals today is that Denmark is contemplating delivering additional weaponry." That is exactly what is required."

        In recent days, other Western governments have made similar promises.

        With global tensions at an all-time high, Russia announced the first successful test flight of the Sarmat, a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile. Putin bragged that it can defeat any missile defense system and make adversaries "think twice" about attacking Russia. The head of the Russian state aerospace agency called the launch out of northern Russia “a present to NATO.” The Pentagon described the test as “routine” and said it wasn’t considered a threat.

        On the battlefield, Ukraine said that Moscow continued to launch attacks across the country's east, looking for weak spots in the Ukrainian defense lines. Russia claimed to have unleashed hundreds of missile and air assaults on targets including troop and vehicle concentrations.

        The annexation of the Donbas, a predominantly Russian-speaking eastern area with coal mining, metal industries, and heavy-equipment manufacturing, is the Kremlin's avowed aim.

        The Russians are not "abandoning their attempts to gain at least some triumph by mounting a fresh, large-scale attack," Zelenskyy stated in a video speech.

        Russian soldiers, according to the governor of Luhansk, control 80 percent of his area, which is one of two that make up the Donbas. The Kyiv administration had 60 percent control of the Luhansk region before Russia invaded on February 24. 

        According to analysts, the attack in the east might devolve into a fight of attrition as Russia confronts Ukraine's most experienced, battle-hardened forces, who have fought pro-Moscow rebels in the Donbas for the last eight years.

        Days after Putin declared the negotiations "dead," Russia said it supplied Ukraine with a draft statement detailing its conditions for resolving the conflict.

        Russia has long urged that Ukraine abandon any plans to join NATO. Ukraine has stated that it would agree to this in exchange for security assurances from other nations. The status of both the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and eastern Ukraine, where rebels have established autonomous republics recognized by Russia, are further sources of concern.