Ukraine has ordered troops defending the last area of the port city of Mariupol to stop fighting, ceding control to Russia after a bloody offensive that has dragged on for months, demonstrating the brutality of the war. of the Kremlin and the resistance of the Kyiv people, NBC News reported on May 20 (local time).
Russia announced its troops had “completely liberated” the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
Specifically, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said that “the group of 531 fighters has finally surrendered”, referring to Ukrainian soldiers who for weeks have resisted the Russian attack and entrenched at the factory.
Ukraine says its current focus is on evacuating troops from the Azovstal steel plant, which is under harsh attack. The decision represents an important but costly victory for Moscow as military offensives are difficult and its geopolitical position is further weakened by efforts to join the Treaty Organization. North Atlantic Ocean (NATO) of Sweden and Finland.
The city of Mariupol was surrounded and bombarded by Russian forces in April. Photo: Getty Images.
Mariupol, once home to 400,000 people, just 30 miles from the Russian border, was the initial target of the Russian military campaign. Ukrainian troops have held out and much of the strategic city is now in ruins after relentless Russian shelling and a siege that Kyiv says has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Russian forces have besieged the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers have positioned a last line of defense for more than two months to organize an offensive in Russia’s east.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the garrison had “completed its combat mission” and that its focus would be on saving soldiers’ lives.
More than 260 soldiers were evacuated from the steel plant, 50 of them seriously injured and taken to Russian-controlled territory.
Earlier, the commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Prokopenko, ordered a halt to fighting in Mariupol and released a short video from inside the Azovstal steel plant saying that the top military leadership had “ordered secure the lives of the soldiers and cease fighting”.
Konashenkov said the Azov Regiment commander “was taken out of the factory in a special armored vehicle”.
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