Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said Wednesday (April 20) that five Ukrainian soldiers defending the last redoubt controlled by Kyiv forces in Mariupol, south-eastern Ukraine, had laid down their arms and that 140 civilians had been evacuated.
According to reports, 140 civilians were evacuated
Five Ukrainian soldiers have laid down their arms and voluntarily left the Azovstal factory where Mariupol’s ultimate defenders are holed up, authorities of the self-proclaimed separatist Donetsk Republic, who have not been recognized by the country, said in a statement from the international community.
Also read: We may be living our last hours: Mariupol soldiers desperately plead
In a separate statement Tuesday night, the separatists said 140 civilians had been evacuated from the city. These claims were not independently verifiable.
The Russian army and its Separatist auxiliaries have been trying for nearly two months to take Mariupol, a major port city devastated by bombing and a humanitarian disaster. The last Ukrainian elements defending the city are essentially entrenched in the Azovstal Metallurgical Complex, a series of factories and underground passages from which Moscow forces are fighting to evict.
Russia has repeatedly called on Ukrainian militants to lay down their arms.
According to the separatists, 200 projectiles were fired
On Tuesday evening, a commander of the Ukrainian forces hiding in Azovstal urged the international community to proceed with their extraction, believing he and his men were living their last days or even their last hours.
Pro-Russian separatists accused Ukrainian forces in Kyiv on Wednesday of firing nearly 200 projectiles at separatist areas the day before, killing a civilian. Claims that cannot be independently verified.
In Mariupol, five Ukrainian soldiers surrendered and 140 civilians were evacuated, according to EXPAND separatists