Horrific scenes of war and chaos continue to affect the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as Russian troops advance.
Mariupol has seen some of the war's most horrifying scenes, including the bombing of an art school housing hundreds of refugees. The word 'children' had been written in Russian on the outside.
The city has been heavily bombed by the advancing Russian troops and Vladimir Putin's forces are currently holding the city under siege, causing a humanitarian crisis as people run out of water and supplies.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said of the siege: "To do this to a peaceful city... is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come."
In exchange for a safe humanitarian corridor of people leaving the city, Russia offered terms of a Ukrainian surrender, which was rejected on Monday.
The advance of Russian troops has been met with not just fierce resistance by Ukrainian soldiers, but the protests and condemnation of Ukrainian cities.
According to reports, Putin has threatened the residents of Mariupol with 'military tribunals' after the rejected surrender.
Where is Mariupol?
Mariupol is in southeastern Ukraine between the annexed territory of Crimea and Russian-backed separatist forces in the Donbas region.
It is a port city on the Sea of Azov, connected to the Black Sea, and became the capital of the Donetsk Oblast region after Donetsk was captured by separatists. Mariupol itself briefly fell to separatists in 2015.
Of its 400,000 population before the war, around 300,000 remain trapped in the city according to Ukrainian sources, though other estimates put this figure at somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000.
Despite its strategic importance and innocent population, the heavy bombardment has seen around 80% of the city destroyed as a result of Russian airstrikes.
As a war tactic, Russia has proven it is happy to level cities in order to pummel them into submission, sending a warning to other cities that choose to resist.
Why is Mariupol so important to Russia?
The location of Mariupol makes it strategically important to advancing Russian troops and enables them to set up a 'land bridge' between the occupied regions of Donbas and Crimea. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.
With so much being thrown at Mariupol, it is clear the city is important to Putin's invasion plan and many of the approximately 6,000 troops attacking the city would be free to attack elsewhere once they have taken control, further harming Ukrainian defences.
Mariupol's location as a port city on the Black Sea is also important to the Ukrainian economy as an industrial powerhouse. Mariupol makes steel, repairs ships and is responsible for the production of heavy machinery, vital to both Ukraine's war effort and its economy. If Russia can control the Black Sea coastline, it will be able to cut off Ukrainian trade.
Putin's view - that Ukraine is actually Russian and therefore belongs to the superpower - means that the capture of Mariupol is culturally significant as well.
