Moscow: More than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in Mariupol, a major port city in eastern Ukraine that has been surrounded by Moscow’s forces for more than a month, according to Russia’s defence ministry on Wednesday.

“In the city of Mariupol… 1,026 Ukrainian servicemen of the 36th Marine Brigade voluntarily laid down their arms and surrendered,” the ministry stated in a statement.

As Russian forces close in on the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, a small group of resistance fighters hopes to slow them down by using a tunnel system beneath a vast industrial complex as a base.

Experts believe that the city, which is viewed as crucial to Russian preparations to invade eastern Ukraine, will be overrun by the Russians.

But the defenders of the Sea of Azov port intend to make it as difficult as possible for the invaders to take it.

Separatist leader Eduard Basurin described “it’s a city within a city” when asked about the situation in the eastern Donetsk region.

“There are several underground levels that date back to Soviet times which you can’t bombard from above. You have to go underground to clean them out, and that will take time.”

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