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Fall of Ukraine's Mariupol feared imminent as Russia dismisses chemical attack claim
People walk past a crater from the explosion in Mira Avenue in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 13, 2022

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin claimed peace talks with Ukraine were at a “dead end” today, blaming what he said were “fake claims” by Kiev about war crimes.

A Ukrainian presidential spokesman said talks were ongoing, however.

The Russian leader spoke at a space centre in the country’s far east a day after the neonazi Azov Battalion, fighting in the besiged city of Mariupol, claimed its troops had been hit by a Russian chemical weapons attack.

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