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Efforts were on Tuesday under way to rescue the last group of Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol after more than 260 troops were evacuated overnight.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “delicacy and time” were needed as officials worked to free the remaining soldiers defending the last corner of the city under control of the defenders.
It was not immediately clear how many people remained at the vast steelworks on Tuesday morning.
Servicemen trapped at Azovstal have been holding out for weeks in bunkers and tunnels built underground to withstand potential nuclear attacks. Since Russia invaded its neighbour in February, the site, one of the largest metal plants in Europe, has become a symbol of the stiff resistance shown by the Ukrainians in defending their homeland. Civilians were evacuated from Azovstal earlier this month.
Ukraine Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar on Tuesday said 53 seriously wounded fighters had been brought out of the site and transported to hospital in Novoazovsk. The town east of Mariupol is under the control of Russian-backed separatists.
Another 211 fighters were evacuated to Olenivka in the Donetsk region through a humanitarian corridor. Ms Maliar said an exchange would be worked out for their return home.
Stretchers carrying injured soldiers were loaded on to buses after nightfall. The vehicles were accompanied by a Russian military convoy as they departed.
Ms Maliar said the “defenders of Mariupol” had fulfilled all their tasks and it was impossible to “unblock Azovstal by military means”.
“Mariupol’s defenders have fully accomplished all missions assigned by the command,” she said.
The commander of the Azov Battalion, which led the defence of the plant, said in a video message released on Monday that the mission had ended with as many lives saved as possible.
“Absolutely safe plans and operations don’t exist during war,” Lt Col Denis Prokopenko said.
Mr Zelenskyy said “work to bring the guys home continues and it requires delicacy and time”.
The Speaker of Russia’s Parliament on Tuesday said the legislature will consider banning the exchange of Russian prisoners of war for captured members of Azov Battalion.
The faction, once a nationalist militia but now integrated into Ukraine’s National Guard, became the face of resistance against Russian troops in the strategic southern city of Mariupol.
But Moscow has depicted the group as a main perpetrator of the alleged radical anti-Russian nationalism – or even Nazism – from which it claims it needs to protect Ukraine’s Russian speakers.
The battalion denies being fascist, racist or neo-Nazi, and Ukraine says it has been reformed to shift away from its radical nationalist origins.
Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the State Duma, said Azov Battalion members were "Nazi criminals" who should not be included in prisoner exchanges.
"They are war criminals and we must do everything to bring them to justice," he said.
The Duma website said Mr Volodin had asked the defence and security committees to prepare an instruction to that effect.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said up to 3,500 buildings were destroyed or damaged in the Chernihiv region north of Kyiv during the Russian army’s failed push to take the Ukrainian capital.
About 80 per cent of the damage was to residential buildings.
The MoD said the scale of destruction in areas bombarded by Russian troops shows their preparedness to use artillery in inhabited areas “with minimal regard to discrimination or proportionality”.
“In the coming weeks, Russia is likely to continue to rely heavily on massed artillery strikes as it attempts to regain momentum in its advance in the Donbas,” the MoD said in an intelligence update posted on Twitter.
Ukraine news latest in pictures
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A pro-Russian troop stands guard before the expected departure of Ukrainian soldiers, who surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel mill in the course of conflict in Mariupol. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier on reconnaissance in a recently retaken village on the outskirts of Kharkiv, east Ukraine. AP Photo -
The destroyed part of the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol. AFP -
US President Joe Biden, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto walk through the White House rose garden after discussing the war, as well as potential Nato membership, in Washington. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are escorted by pro-Russian troops to Olenivka in the breakaway Donetsk region. Reuters -
Ukrainian National Guard soldiers train in the woods of the Transcarpathian region. Reuters -
A roof damaged during Russia's invasion of Ukraine is rebuilt in Moshchun village, near Kyiv. Reuters -
Ukrainian children play war games at a "checkpoint" they set up in Stoyanka, near Kyiv. AFP -
Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, centre, on trial for war crimes in the Solomyansky district court in Kyiv, Ukraine. AFP -
A controlled detonation of explosive devices is conducted near Borodianka, Ukraine. Reuters -
A Russian serviceman adjusts the Soviet flag on a statue in Leninsky Komsomol Square in Mariupol, Ukraine. EPA -
A couple leave a metro station where they had been living after fleeing Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
Ukrainian forces leave the Azovstal steel works plant in Mariupol. AFP -
Russian militrary vehicles follow buses (not in picture) carrying Ukrainian troops being evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. EPA -
Members of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces carry water bottles as the evacuation of Ukrainian soldiers is carried out in Mariupo. EPA -
Ukrainian separatist troops and Russian soldiers, rear right, guard the buses with Ukrainian troops, in Mariupol. EPA -
A member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces escorts a Ukrainian fighter being evacuated from the steel plant. EPA -
Russian militrary vehicles escort buses carrying Ukrainian troops from the Azovstal steel plant. EPA -
A total of 265 Ukrainian militants, including 51 seriously wounded, laid down arms and surrendered to Russian forces, the Russian Ministry of Defence said on May 17. EPA -
A Ukrainian soldier sits on a bus as troops are evacuated. EPA -
Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 21 ordered his defence minister to not storm but blockade the plant where a number of Ukrainian fighters were holding out. EPA -
Those in need of medical assistance were sent for treatment to a hospital in Novoazovsk, Russia said. EPA -
Some of the Ukrainian troops evacuated from the steel plant. AP -
A pro-Russian fighter stands guard next to a combat vehicle, before the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the besieged Azovstal steel mill,in Mariupol. Reuters -
Pro-Russian troops wait before the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal steel mill. Reuters -
A wounded Ukrainian soldier evacuated from Mariupol is carried on a stretcher out of a bus, after arriving in Novoazovsk. Reuters -
Buses carrying Ukrainian soldiers from the besieged Azovstal steel mill drive away under escort of the pro-Russian forces, in Mariupol. Reuters -
Pro-Russian troops stand guard on a road in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
Left to right, clockwise: Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Stanislav Zas, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), and Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko hold a meeting of CSTO leaders at the Kremlin in Moscow. AFP -
Finland's President Sauli Niinisto and US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell answer questions from the media as Republican senators John Barrasso, Susan Collins and John Cornyn and US new ambassador to Finland Douglas Hickey listen, after a meeting at the president's official residence in Helsinki. Reuters -
Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson speaks to the media before the parliamentary debate on Swedish Nato membership, in Stockholm. Reuters -
Firefighters work at a scene of a missile strike, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, in Zatoka, Odesa region. Reuters -
A closed McDonald's restaurant in Moscow. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier walks past a wrecked Russian armoured personnel carrier, near Kutuzivka, north of Kharkiv. AP -
A screengrab obtained from a video shows Ukrainian troops at the Ukraine-Russia border, in what was said to be the Kharkiv region. Reuters -
Water gushes from a pump station after Ukrainian troops opened a dam to flood a residential area in Demydiv, to stop the advance of Russian forces towards the capital Kyiv. Reuters -
Residental buildings damaged by shelling in Irpin, Kyiv region. EPA -
Activists line up to form a peace sign in front of the building that houses the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, in Berlin. The event was organised by Greenpeace. AFP -
Officials stand together for a photo at an informal meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Berlin, with the focus on the potential membership of Finland and Sweden. Getty Images -
Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin (L) and President Sauli Niinisto hold a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, where they announced the country's intentions to apply for Nato membership. AP -
An Ukrainian girl with the national flag painted on her face attends a cultural event in support of the besieged country in a metro station in Dnipro, Ukraine. Reuters -
Kalush Orchestra of Ukraine are named the winners of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy. Getty Images -
Members of the Ukrainian military celebrate Kalush Orchestra winning the Eurovision Song Contest, at their position in the Kyiv region. Reuters -
Refugees from Mariupol region arrive at a registration and humanitarian aid centre for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Reuters -
A damaged street on the outskirts of Kharkiv. EPA -
A damaged residential building on the outskirts of Kharkiv. EPA -
Debris hangs from a regional government building in Mykolaiv, which was heavily damaged in a Russian attack. AP -
Former students play table tennis in the playground of a destroyed school in Kharkiv. Reuters
