Deputy Head of the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic Eduard Basurin on Monday said that 80% of the Mariupol port had been liberated, TASS reports.
"Eighty percent of the port has been liberated, but there’s still resistance," he said on Rossiya-24 television, when asked about the situation in Mariupol. "The rest of them are trying to retreat to Azovstal."
"Azovstal is a fortress within the city," he went on to say, referring to a steel plant.
Russian troops and forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have evacuated 47 crew members from foreign ships blocked by Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol, the DPR People’s Militia said on Sunday.
"Russian and DPR troops de-blocked 47 crewmembers from Russia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Ukraine who were onboard ships. They could not leave the zone of combat operations because of mines placed by nationalists," it wrote on its Telegram channel.
According to earlier reports, retreating Ukrainian nationalists seized two foreign ships, the Tsarevna and Lady Augusta, and kept hostage their crews.
Following a dramatic deterioration of the situation in Donbass on February 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 announced a decision to recognize the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics within the boundaries of the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as is committed to paper in their constitutions.
