A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine said on Monday it would take more than a week to take control of the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
"I am not so optimistic that two or three days or even a week will close the issue. Unfortunately, no, the city is big," Denis Pushilin, head of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, said, according to the report.
