According to the Russian defense ministry, Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol were brought to a hospital in Novoazovsk, in the breakaway Donetsk republic.

Since Monday, about 1,000 Ukrainian fighters who locked themselves in tunnels on the location have surrendered to Russian and pro-Russian forces.

Officials in Ukraine have blocked all public discussion of the fate of fighters who made their last stand at Azovstal, citing fears that they were deported to a Russian penal colony.