Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in Mariupol, a strategic port metropolis in japanese Ukraine that has been besieged through Moscow’s troops for over a month.
“In the town of Mariupol… 1,026 Ukrainian servicemen of the 36th marine brigade voluntarily laid down their palms and surrendered,” the ministry stated in a statement. The ministry said that the soldiers surrendered near the “Mariupol Metallurgical Plant named after Illich”, a large steel factory.
Among the troops were 162 officers and 47 had been women, the ministry added. More than 100 have been wounded. Russia is believed to be making an attempt to join occupied Crimea and Moscow-backed separatist territories Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas and has laid siege to Mariupol at the begin of its army operation.
Thousands of civilians are believed to have died in the city, which has considered some of the most extreme combat in the conflict.