Over 250 Ukrainian militants holed up in Azovstal steel plant surrender — DPR

According to the territorial defense headquarters of the DPR, the wounded are receiving medical assistance

Over 250 Ukrainian militants entrenched in the Azovstal steel complex in Mariupol, including 51 wounded personnel, surrendered, the territorial defense headquarters of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) reported on Tuesday, Qazet.az reports.

"Overall, 256 Ukrainian militants have surrendered from the territory of the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol. There were 51 wounded militants among those captured," the headquarters said on its Telegram channel.

Currently, the wounded are receiving medical assistance, the headquarters said.

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier reported that an agreement had been reached on Monday with the Ukrainian troops sealed off on the territory of the Azovstal steel plant on extracting wounded Ukrainian military personnel from the plant. The ministry also said that a ceasefire was in effect in the area around the enterprise and an evacuation corridor had been opened for wounded Ukrainian servicemen, through which they were being delivered to a health institution in Novoazovsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) for receiving all required medical assistance.

The Ukrainian side earlier reported that 53 heavily wounded Ukrainian militants had been evacuated from Azovstal on May 16 to Novoazovsk controlled by the DPR forces and 211 Ukrainian troops had been taken to Yelenovka through a humanitarian corridor.

At a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on April 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin handed down a directive calling off a looming assault on Azovstal as inexpedient and ordered that the industrial zone there be tightly sealed off so that even a fly "couldn’t get through."

Defense Minister Shoigu said at a conference call on May 4 that the remnants of the Ukrainian combat group had been reliably sealed off along the entire perimeter of the Azovstal steel complex while the Russian forces continued attempts to persuade them to lay down their arms. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 4 that the Russian troops were not storming the plant’s territory but were suppressing the attempts by the Ukrainian militants holed up there to assume firing positions.