The Ukrainian fighters who defended the steel mill in the devastated port city of Mariupol have “full accomplished” their mission, says the country’s deputy defence minister.
After the successful evacuation of 260 injured soldiers on Monday, Ukraine says it is now discussing plans to extract the last of its soldiers still holding out at the steel mill, at which point it will fully cede control of the strategic port city to Russia.
Monday’s evacuation to Russia-backed separatist-controlled territory was done to save the lives of the fighters who endured weeks of Russian assaults in the maze of underground passages below the hulking Azovstal steelworks, said president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Yesterday the 53 most seriously wounded fighters were taken directly to a hospital in Novoazovsk to the east of Mariupol, and the remaining 211 were evacuated to Olenivka through a humanitarian corridor.
