Russia tries to 'clean up' bombed-out Mariupol ahead of Victory Day

A clean up operation took place in the centre of Mariupol on Thursday even as Ukrainian fighters held out against Russian troops in the city's pulverized steel plant.

The rest of the city is now under Russian control.

Municipal workers, as well as volunteers, were seen clearing debris near gutted, charred buildings, including the drama theatre where hundreds of people died when the Russian military bombed it in March.

Some workers were also seen putting a Russian flag on a tall utility pole.

As the bloody battle continues, there is speculation that President Vladimir Putin wants to present the Russian people with a battlefield triumph — or announce an escalation of the war — in time for Victory Day.

Victory Day is the biggest patriotic holiday on the Russian calendar, marking the Soviet Union's triumph over Nazi Germany.

Also Watch: Pro-Russia region releases video of Azovstal steel plant bombing

Since the invasion began in February, Russia has been fighting to capture the strategic port city.

The complete capture of the strategic port city would mark Russia's biggest success of the war yet.

Russia would need to seize Mariupol's sprawling Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of resistance in a city which has largely been reduced to rubble over the past two months of the war.