(ANSA-AFP) - KYIV, MAY 20 - The remaining Ukrainian troops
holed up in Mariupol's besieged Azovstal steelworks have been
ordered by Kyiv to stop fighting, a commander of a battalion
leading the trapped units said Friday. "The higher military
command has given the order to save the lives of the soldiers of
our garrison and to stop defending the city," Denys Prokopenko
said in a video on Telegram. An "ongoing process" was underway
to remove killed fighters from the plant, he added. The
soldiers, blockaded in the giant steelworks for weeks, have
become a symbol of Ukraine's fierce resistance to Russia's
invasion. The comments came as Moscow said 1,908 Ukrainian
troops trapped in the factory have surrendered since Monday.
Prokopenko said the priority was now to transfer the fallen from
the plant. "We have always insisted on three of the most
important conditions for us: civilians, wounded and the dead,"
he said. (ANSA-AFP).
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