The Russians have been trying to take over Ukraine since February 24, 2022.  Within a month, 1,035 civilians were killed, and 1,650 were injured.  Russia’s attempt to take over it has been the biggest military mobilization in Europe since World War II.  The reason Putin, President of Russia, wants to overrun Ukraine is so he could depose the government.

On April 20, 2022, Putin stopped and called off the assault on the last holdout on Mariupol. According to the New York Times, “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called off an assault on a steel plant that has become Ukraine’s last redoubt in the port city of Mariupol, ordering Russian forces to blockade it instead, as he tried to claim a victory in one of the war’s bloodiest battles.” Mariupol was under Russian control, except for the industrial zone of the Azov steel plant.  It was holding soldiers that have taken refuge, 2,000 of them.  Mariupol is a city in southeastern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Sea of Azov.  Putin ordered his forces not to storm the site where the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the besieged port city is holding out.

People had to leave their loved ones to get to safety. According to NBCNews, “Mariupol’s few remaining Ukrainian defenders, a move Kyiv has flatly rejected. Ukrainian officials said they hoped to evacuate as many as 6,000 thousand civilians on Wednesday as Russian forces close in on the last pockets of resistance.”  Citizens are currently returning to the war-torn country to see if their loved ones are okay.