WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States understands that Ukrainian forces still hold ground in Mariupol and Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim to have liberated the city is disinformation, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.

       "We understand that Ukraine's forces continue to hold their ground and there is every reason to believe that President Putin and his defense minister's show for the media that we saw in recent hours is even yet more disinformation from their well-worn playbook," State Department spokesman Ned Price told a news briefing.

       (Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)