Some 1,000 Ukraine marines surrender in Mariupol, says Russia

More than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the port of Mariupol, Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday, signalling that it had moved closer to capturing the ruined city, its main strategic target in eastern Ukraine.

If the Russians take the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they would have full control of Mariupol, Ukraine's main Sea of Azov port, reinforcing a southern land corridor before an expected new offensive in the country's east. read more

Surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for weeks and the focus of some of the fiercest fighting in the war, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Russia's defence ministry said 162 officers were among the marines who had surrendered to Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces.

"In the town of Mariupol, near the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, as a result of successful offensives by Russian armed forces and Donetsk People's Republic militia units, 1,026 Ukrainian soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade voluntarily laid down arms and surrendered," the ministry said in a statement.