Russian troops ‘likely to redeploy from Mariupol’

A man searches for metal scraps in a bombed-out neighbourhood in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine (AP)

Russian commanders will be coming under increasing pressure to reallocate troops from the strategic southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol to bolster their offensive in eastern Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

More than 1,700 defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in the strategic port city have surrendered since Monday, Russian authorities said, in what appears to be the final stage in the near three-month siege.