Over 42 Ukrainian troops have laid down their arms and surrendered in the city of Mariupol, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.
They were among 100 Ukrainian soldiers who engaged in a night battle with Russian forces in a failed attempt to escape the siege-battered city, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a morning press briefing in Moscow.
As a result, three Ukrainian tanks, five armored vehicles, and seven cars were destroyed in the fighting that killed about 50 people, said Konashenkov.
"A group of Ukrainian servicemen numbering up to 100 people in armored vehicles tried to fight their way out of the plant (Illich Steel and Iron Works) and leave the city in a northerly direction. This breakthrough attempt was thwarted by airstrikes and artillery," he added.
Also, high-precision weapons destroyed an ammunition depot and a protected hangar at the Starokonstantinovo airfield in the western Khmelnytskyi Oblast, along with an ammunition depot in the region of the capital Kyiv, said the official.
He added that Russian aviation forces hit 32 Ukrainian military targets overnight, including one Buk-M1 air defense system, a radar, and illumination system of an S-300 air defense system, a command point, and 18 areas of concentration of military equipment.
The air defense systems downed two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) near Berdyanks and Melitopol, he said.
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