Around 120,000 civilians are blocked from leaving the besieged city of Mariupol, which is mostly controlled by Russia, but Ukrainian troops remain in a part of it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a joint press conference with Spanish and Danish leaders on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the "liberation" of Mariupol after being told by his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that Russian forces now control the entire Ukrainian port city, apart from the vast Azovstal steel plant.

Putin ordered the Russian military to cancel plans to storm the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where thousands of Ukrainian defenders and civilians are holed up. "Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can get through," he said.