“In the city of Mariupol, a group of Russian troops and units of the People’s Militia of the Donetsk Republic, as a result of offensive actions, completely liberated the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works from Ukrainian nationalists,” he said at a briefing.

Earlier it became known that in Mariupol the sea trade port was completely liberated from the militants of the Ukrainian national battalion "Azov".

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the remnants of units of Ukrainian troops and Azov militants in the city were blocked and deprived of the opportunity to escape from the encirclement.