Russian forces ‘take full control of Mariupol steel plant’

Ukrainian servicemen leave the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol (Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russian forces have taken full control of the steel plant in Mariupol that was the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the city, Moscow’s defence minister said.

The seizure marks the end of a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of Mariupol to ruins and left more than 20,000 people feared dead.