some of the most badly injured are now being treated in a russian hospital. the southern port city has been key to moscow s military campaign, giving russia full control of more than 80% of ukraine s black sea coastline. russian troops encircled mariupol in early march, damaging or destroying over 90% of the city. but ukrainian forces held out at the huge steelworks in the city defying multiple russian demands for surrender, frustrating the kremlin and forcing the russian military to spend more and more time and effort on breaking their will. moscow says the fighters will be questioned as part of their investigation into crimes committed by the ukrainian regime. president zelensky says that they should be given back to ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange. translation: we hope - to save the lives of our boys. among them are the heavily wounded. they are being treated. i want to underline, ukraine needs its ukrainian heroes alive.
from sepsis, they claim. the russians say those injured will be treated, and there are reports of a prisoner swap. but it s not clear what will happen to the hundreds of fighters still at azovstal. among them is thought to be kateryna s husband. translation: i really, really, really want to help them, - but ijust don t know how. i feel really powerless. he is a very strong man, strong in spirit. he has been supporting me all my life. ukraine s military command said in the early hours of tuesday morning that the mission to defend the steel plant was over. it is still unclear how many fighters remain in there. the southern port city has been key to moscow s military campaign, giving russia full control of more than 80% of ukraine s black sea coastline.
the asovstal steel plant and were taken to russian controlled territory. the southern port city has been key to moscow s military campaign giving russia full control of more than 80% of ukraine s black sea coastline. russian troops encircled mariupol in early march, damaging or destroying over 90% of the city. but ukrainian forces held out at the huge steelworks in the city. hundreds of them defied an ultimatum to surrender, and so were trapped with a number of civilians and young children, who were eventually rescued. reports from ukraine suggest buses carrying more of the ukrainian fighters have left the plant this afternoon. laura bigger reports. it s been a brutal and bloody 83 days, but their battle is over, for now. the wounded from azovstal are carried out the vast steel plant, filmed by the very force they ve been fighting. russia will be keen to air these images which they say show
for 82 days the ukranian fighters who clung to their last foothold in the besieged city of mariupol came to symbolise their country s defiance against the onslaught of russian forces. last night more than 260 of them were told to leave the asovstal steel plant and were taken to russian controlled territory. the southern port city has been key to moscow s military campaign giving russia full control of more than 80% of ukraine s black sea coastline. russian troops encircled mariupol in early march damaging or destroying over 90% of the city. but ukrainian forces held out at the huge steelworks in the city. hundreds of them defied an ultimatum to surrender and so were trapped with a number of civilians and young children, who were eventually rescued. reports from ukraine suggest buses carrying more of the ukrainian fighters have left the steel plant this afternoon. 0ur correspondent
euro from nissan that ended up benefiting me directly or indirectly. and art in the shadow of war. the ukrainian entries, at the venice biennale. if you justjoined us, welcome to bbc news. i m shaun ley. we begin in ukraine, with a warning from president volodymyr zelensky that russia s attack on his nation is only the beginning. president zelensky was reacting to comments earlier on friday in which a russian general which seemed to suggest that russia s war aim is now to cut ukraine off from its black sea coastline, which might allow it to advance towards a pro moscow enclave in moldova. his comments come as the un confirms that its secretary general antonio guterrez will hold talks in moscow on tuesday with president putin. the un says there s growing