Mariupol is on track to become 'a Ukrainian Alamo,' retired US general says

• The Ukrainian city of Mariupol is become "a Ukrainian Alamo," a US general said.
• Retired Gen. David Petraeus referenced the 1836 Battle of the Alamo from the Texas Revolution.

The besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol may be on track to become "a Ukrainian Alamo," a US general said, referencing the Battle of the Alamo in Texas.

On ABC News' "This Week," retired Gen. David Petraeus said the invasion of Ukraine has caused a "terrible loss of innocent life."

"But then you have the situation in Mariupol, which has become a bit of a Ukrainian Alamo at this point in time," Petraeus said. "It's fighting to the last defender, and pinning down multiple Russian battalions in so doing, very heroically, but ultimately, it looks as if it's going to have to collapse. It's going to be taken."

Petraeus referenced the notorious 1836 Battle of the Alamo from the Texas Revolution, in which Texas colonists rebelled against Mexican forces, forcing them out of their territory and occupying the Alamo, an old Spanish mission near modern-day San Antonio. Mexican forces later marched 1,500 troops to retake the Alamo, slaughtering the Texas troops.

Mariupol, located in southeast Ukraine, has been the subject of a brutal assault by Russia that has laid waste to the city's homes, schools, and maternity hospitals. Some residents have been sheltering for weeks, and many are without food, water, or electricity. Multiple attempts at humanitarian corridors and ceasefires have failed, despite being agreed upon with the Russians.

Earlier this month, Russian forces bombed a movie theater in the city, trapping about 1,300 civilians. About 300 people were reported killed in the airstrike.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack, saying the city will "go down in history of responsibility for war crimes."

Retired Gen. Petraeus said the Russian capture of Mariupol will cause "some peril for Ukraine."

"It will free up a number of battalions that were the ones that have been closing the circle, closing the noose on Mariupol, who can then push further north and perhaps enable Russia to achieve what it has now said, as it's redefined its objectives, to taking control of all of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts," Petraeus said on Sunday.

He added: "So, this is going to be very tenuous period the next few days as we see what happens in Mariupol, what the Russians are able to do as a result of it, and then haw the Ukrainians can respond, because that's a very long distance from anywhere where they might have forces that they could possibly spare."