Why the battle for Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant matters

The vast Azovstal steel plant is the last holdout of Ukrainian forces in the devastated southern port city of Mariupol. Homes around it have been reduced to a wasteland littered with bodies, but despite nearly two months of siege and bombardment, Russian forces have failed to break through to the steel plant. It’s estimated that a few thousand Ukrainian troops remain in Azovstal and yet Russian President Vladimir Putin, on April 21, 2022, declared the city liberated. Why is Russia so desperate…