Mariupol heroes forced to evacuate

Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers have been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steelworks – the last holdout of troops defending the southern port city of Mariupol – Kyiv said on Monday, local time.

The plant had become a symbol of resistance, with about 600 soldiers holed up in underground tunnels and bunkers fighting a rear-guard battle to prevent Russian troops taking full control of the strategically located city.

But on Monday, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister, Ganna Malyar, said more than 260 had been moved through humanitarian corridors to areas under Moscow and Russia-backed separatists’ control.

“An exchange procedure will be carried out for their return home,” Ms Malyar said.

The Ukrainian army said the soldiers in Mariupol had “performed their combat task” and now the main goal was to “save the lives of personnel”.

By holding the steelworks, they stopped Russian forces from rapidly capturing the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a statement on Facebook said.

Despite the resources of its giant neighbour, Ukraine has managed to repel the Russian army for longer than many expected, fortified by weapons and cash from Western allies.

The latest example of this came on Monday when Ukraine’s defence ministry announced its troops had regained control of territory on the Russian border near the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, which has been under constant attack.

Since failing to take Kyiv in the early weeks of the war, Moscow has switched its focus to Donbas, a region near the Russian border that is home to pro-Russian separatists.

Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich told local television Sunday that Russian troops were being redeployed to take Severodonetsk, the easternmost city still held by Ukraine.

Its occupation would grant the Kremlin de facto control of Luhansk, one of two regions – along with Donetsk – that comprise Donbas.

But Russia’s attempt to encircle the city of 100,000 has been repelled with heavy equipment losses, while Russian-occupied railway bridges were blown up.