As we said earlier, a convoy of at least seven buses carrying Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol reportedly arrived today at a former penal colony in the Russian-controlled town of Olenivka, near Donetsk.
It comes after around 50 severely injured servicemen were evacuated to a Russian-controlled hospital last night, while more than 200 others were taken to Olenivka before today’s evacuation.
Mariupol, in south-east Ukraine, has been encircled since the start of March and is now mostly under the control of Kremlin forces.
Full control of Mariupol would give Russia a land bridge to Crimea and full control of the Sea of Azov, cutting off Ukraine’s maritime trade.
However, the process of capturing the southern port city has been slow and bloody.
