Kyiv said that more than 1,000 Ukrainian troops, many of them injured, remained in the sprawling Azovstal steel works in the Russian-controlled port city of Mariupol.
“More than a thousand” Ukrainian soldiers remain in the plant, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, told AFP.
“Hundreds are injured. There are people with serious injuries who require urgent evacuation. The situation is deteriorating every day.”