Russia has said a further 771 Ukrainian troops have “surrendered” at Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steelworks, bringing the total number to 1,730 this week, while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had started registering the Ukrainian prisoners of war who left the plant.
The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday that 80 soldiers who surrendered in the past day were being treated for injuries in hospitals in the Russian-held cities of Novoazovsk and Donetsk. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said on Wednesday that more than 900 troops from Azovstal had been sent to a former prison colony in the town of Olenivka, but it was not immediately clear where the latest group to surrender had gone.
