Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said late Friday that the country’s armed forces had “temporarily” lost access to the Sea of Azov amid Russia’s tightening of the noose around the important port of Mariupol, according to Reuters.
“The occupiers achieved partial success in the Donetsk operational area and temporarily deprived Ukraine of access to the Sea of Azov,” the Defense Ministry said.
The information does not specify whether the Ukrainian forces returned to the sea.
Russia said on Friday that its forces were “tightening the noose” around Mariupol, where an estimated 80 percent of homes were damaged and about 1,000 people could still be buried in a makeshift bomb shelter under a theater destroyed by the shelling.
Mariupol occupies a strategic position on the shores of the Sea of Azov and has been the target of the Russian invasion since its inception on February 24.
The city is located on the road between the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula in the west and the Donetsk region in the east, which is partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists. On March 1, Russia stated that it had blocked access of the Ukrainian armed forces to the Sea of Azov.