1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th marine brigade, including 162 officers, have surrendered in the besieged port city of Mariupol, according to a statement from the Russian defence ministry.
“In the town of Mariupol, near the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, as a result of successful offensives by Russian armed forces and Donetsk People’s Republic militia units, 1,026 Ukrainian soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade voluntarily laid down arms and surrendered,” it said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian president’s office, the Ukrainian general staff or the defence ministry. Ukraine’s general staff, in its morning report, had said that Russian forces were proceeding with attacks in Mariupol on the Azovstal iron and steel works and the port.
Russia said 151 wounded Ukrainian soldiers were treated on the spot and taken to Mariupol’s city hospital. Russian television had showed pictures of what it said were marines giving themselves up at the iron and steel works in Mariupol on Tuesday.
Reuters reports that earlier the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered, and he urged remaining forces in the Azovstal steel mill to surrender.
“Within Azovstal at the moment there are about 200 wounded who cannot receive any medical assistance,” Kadyrov said in his post. “For them and all the rest it would be better to end this pointless resistance and go home to their families.”
In a Facebook post on Monday, the last Ukrainian soldiers defending Mariupol said they were “running out of ammunition” and expected to be killed or taken prisoner very soon.
“We were bombed from airplanes and shot at by artillery and tanks. We have been doing everything possible and impossible. But any resource has the potential to run out,” said the 36th brigade.
[NOTE] This may be the first time during the war that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry or the President's office doesn't have anything to say.
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