Russian military confirms “full release” of steel plants in Mariupol | world and science

Russian army in the streets of MariupolOlga Maltseva/AFP

Posted on 05/20/2022 17:30

On Friday, the Russian army announced the “complete liberation” of the strategic city of Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, after the last soldiers holed up for weeks at the Azovstal steel plants surrendered.

As of May 16, 2016, 2,439 Nazis from [batalhão de] Azov and the Ukrainian soldiers trapped in the steel plant surrendered. “Today, May 20, the last group of 531 fighters surrendered,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

“The tunnels at the site, where they were hiding from the fighters, are now under the full control of the Russian armed forces,” he added.

According to the spokesman, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin “the end of the operation and the complete liberation of the complex. [de Azovstal] and the city of Mariupol.

Konashenkov reported that the commander of the Azov battalion, a militia integrated into the Ukrainian army, surrendered to the Russian forces and was evacuated in a “special armored vehicle” to avoid being attacked by the hostile population.