Ukraine cedes control of Azovstal plant in Mariupol
Tuesday, 17 May 2022 (10:40 IST)
Ukraine's military said it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
"The 'Mariupol' garrison has fulfilled its combat mission," the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement on Facebook.
"The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel... Defenders of Mariupol are the heroes of our time."
The rest of Mariupol is already under Russian control. The city had been under Russian siege since the start of the war.
Civilians were evacuated from the plant in recent weeks, and more than 260 troops left the plant for Russian-controlled areas late on Monday. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said 53 injured troops were taken to a hospital in the town of Novoazovsk, which is under Russian control.
Maliar said that the fighters defending Mariupol had given Kyiv critically important time to build up reserves and regroup forces. She added that the most important thing now was to save the lives of remaining fighters.
Echoing Maliar's comments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that Ukraine needs its "heroes" alive.
"We hope that we will be able to save the lives of our guys," Zelenskyy said. "There are severely wounded ones among them. They're receiving care."
