However, more than 2,000 Ukrainian “militants” still remain entrenched at the Azovstal steel plant in the city, Shoigu added, according to RT.
When Mariupol was encircled in early March, some 8,100 Ukrainian soldiers, foreign mercenaries, and nationalist militants, including members of the notorious Azov Battalion, remained inside, according to the minister’s estimates.
More than 1,400 militants have laid down their arms and over 142,000 civilians have also been evacuated from the city that has been under siege for weeks, according to Shoigu.
The Russian forces and militias from the Donbas republics will need between three and four days to take control of the Azovstal plant, Shoigu believes. Russia has twice sought to establish a humanitarian corridor for those willing to leave the plant in recent days, but both attempts failed.
MP/PR