More than 1,000 Ukrainian marines defending the besieged port city of Mariupol have surrendered, Moscow has claimed. In one of the most critical battles of the war, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday 1,026 soldiers from Ukraine’s 36th marine brigade, including 162 officers, had “voluntarily laid down their arms” near the city’s Ilyich iron and steel works. There was no independent confirmation of the claim.
The presidents of four countries bordering Russia – Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – have travelled to Kyiv in a show of support for their Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and his embattled troops. It follows Kyiv’s reported refusal to meet the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who visited Poland on Tuesday and said he had planned to go on to Ukraine but “was not wanted”. Steinmeier, who was formerly Germany’s foreign minister, is facing heavy criticism for his past policy of rapprochement with Moscow.
