Ukrainian authorities said a rescue mission to extract the last defenders of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol was under way on Tuesday, after hundreds of soldiers were evacuated in an earlier operation.
The factory complex had become a symbol of resistance, with around 600 soldiers holed up in underground tunnels and bunkers fighting a rear-guard battle to prevent Russian troops taking full control of the strategically located port city.
Despite the resources of its giant neighbour, Ukraine has managed to repel the Russian army for longer than many expected, fortified by weapons and cash from Western allies.The latest example of this came on Monday, when Ukraine's defence ministry announced its troops had regained control of territory on the Russian border near the country's second-largest city of Kharkiv.
"The armed forces of Ukraine are repelling constant attacks in those areas where Russia is still trying to advance," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.Taking Severodonetsk, the easternmost city held by Ukraine, would grant the Kremlin de facto control of Lugansk, one of two regions - along with Donetsk - that comprise Donbas.
In the western city of Lviv, an official from the Regional Military Administration said a military infrastructure facility"almost on the border with Poland" had been hit.
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