Moscow said that 1,730 Ukrainian fighters had surrendered in Mariupol over three days, including 771 in the past 24 hours, claiming a surrender on a far bigger scale than Kyiv has acknowledged since ordering its garrison to stand down.
The ultimate outcome of Europe’s bloodiest battle for decades remained publicly unresolved, with no confirmation of the fate of the hundreds of Ukrainian troops who had held out in a vast steelworks at the end of a near three-month siege.
The Kremlin said Ukraine was showing no willingness to continue peace talks, but officials in Kyiv blamed Russia for the lack of progress.
Russia said it was expelling a total of 85 embassy staff from France, Spain and Italy in response to similar moves by those countries, highlighting the damage to relations with leading European Union members since it launched its war on Ukraine.
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Russia Says 959 Ukrainian Fighters Surrendered From Azovstal So Far
May 18, 2022
(Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday that a total of 959 Ukrainian fighters, including 80 wounded, had surrendered from the bunkers and tunnels below Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks since Monday.
The defence ministry said 694 Ukrainian fighters – including members of the Azov regiment – had surrendered in the past 24 hours, including 29 wounded.
In the latest update on what Moscow calls its special military operation, the ministry said Russia also struck eastern Ukraine with missiles in the Soledar area of the Donetsk region.
Russia also hit foreign mercenaries, destroyed Ukrainian Su-24 aircraft, Ukrainian arsenals and S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, the ministry said.
Russia struck 76 control points and 421 troop and artillery points, including 147 artillery and mortar, with missiles and artillery, the ministry said.
It hit a Ukrainian battery of 155-mm M777 howitzers manufactured by the United States, the ministry said.
It was not possible to independently confirm the claims
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