Ukrainian serviceman wave a flag with writing reading in Ukrainian “Glory to Ukraine”, top, and “Death to the enemies” as they ride atop a tank in the Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) 
Ukrainian women picket in front of the Chinese embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. Wives and mothers of the defenders of Mariupol call on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinese President Xi Jinping to save Ukrainian fighters from the besieged city of Mariupol amid Russia’s war. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) 
In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, shows Russian servicemen frisk Ukrainian servicemen as they are being evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP) 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, and his wife Olena Zelenska pay their respects at the funeral of Leonid Kravchuk, independent Ukraine’s first president, during a farewell ceremony at the International Convention Center Ukrainian House, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. Kravchuk led Ukraine to independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union and served as its first president. He died on May 10 at the age of 88. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) 
A couple sit on a bench in Odesa, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a remand prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a remand prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a remand prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) 
Buses with Ukrainian servicemen evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant travel accompany Russian APC’s to a prison in Olyonivka, territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) 
A Russian military helicopter flies over buses with Ukrainian servicemen evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant traveling to a prison in Olyonivka, territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo) 
Buses with Ukrainian servicemen evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant travel accompanied by Russian APC’s to a prison in Olyonivka, territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo) 
Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said. (AP Photo) 
Local residents walk past Russian military vehicles in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) 
Servicemen of Donetsk People’s Republic militia walk in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) 
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg displays documents as Sweden and Finland applied for membership in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday May 18, 2022. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the military alliance stands ready to seize a historic moment and move quickly on allowing Finland and Sweden to join its ranks, after the two countries submitted their membership requests. (Johanna Geron, Pool via AP) 
A woman stands next to a destroyed house in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
KYIV, Ukraine | Russia said Wednesday that nearly 1,000 Ukrainian troops making their last stand in Mariupol have surrendered, edging ever closer to the end of the battle that turned the city into a symbol of resistance and suffering.
The fighters trooping out of the ruins of the sprawling Azovstal steel mill, carrying their wounded with them and leaving a dwindling number still inside the plant, face an uncertain fate. Ukraine says it hopes for a prisoner swap but Russia has said at least some could be investigated for war crimes.
Russia called the slow but steady abandonment of the last redoubt of resistance a surrender, but Ukraine avoided that word. It’s unclear how many fighters remain inside plant’s warren of tunnels and bunkers, where 2,000 were believed to be holed up at one point. Also unclear is the status of the garrison’s commanding officers.
Both sides are trying to shape the narrative and extract propaganda victories from what has been one of the most important battles of the war.
“There can be just one interpretation: The troops holed up at Azovstal are laying down their weapons and surrendering,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
Russian Defense Ministry video has shown troops carrying out their wounded on gurneys and submitting to firm and thorough pat-downs. The troops were unarmed but were not shown with their hands raised in the air.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that 959 Ukrainian troops have now abandoned the stronghold since they started coming out Monday.
Only the plant stands in the way of Russia’s ability to declare the full capture of Mariupol — a development that would be a boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin in a war where many of his plans have gone awry.
After failing to overrun Kyiv in the early days of the war, Putin switched his focus to eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland of the Donbas, but his troops are now bogged down there. He has faced a further setback with Sweden and Finland deciding to join NATO.
The countries submitted their applications Wednesday, a move welcomed by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. The 30 member countries will now consider the requests. Finland and Sweden could become members within months if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reservations can be overcome. Other NATO countries want to move quickly.
Mariupol’s defenders grimly clung to the steel mill for months and against the odds, preventing Russia from completing its occupation of the city and its port. Its full capture would give Russia an unbroken land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
The steel plant’s fall also would remove a distraction for Russian military planners who are focusing what remains of their invasion force’s strength on battles elsewhere in the east and south of Ukraine.
At least some of the Azovstal fighters who laid down their arms have been taken to a former penal colony in territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Their legal status is not clear.
The Associated Press filmed military vehicles bearing the pro-Kremlin “Z” sign escorting a convoy of buses carrying the troops, as Soviet flags fluttered from poles along the road. About two dozen Ukrainian fighters were seen in one of the buses.
Ukraine says it hopes they can be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war and that negotiations are delicate and time-consuming.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “the most influential international mediators are involved” in the evacuation.
But Russia’s main federal investigative body said it intends to interrogate the troops to “identify the nationalists” and determine whether they were involved in crimes against civilians. Also, Russia’s top prosecutor asked the country’s Supreme Court to designate Ukraine’s Azov Regiment — among the troops that made up the Azovstal garrison — as a terrorist organization. The regiment has roots in the far right.
The Russian parliament planned to take up a resolution Wednesday to prevent the exchange of Azov Regiment fighters, Russian news agencies said.
Mariupol was targeted by Russia from the outset of the invasion. The city was largely flattened in steady bombardments, and Ukraine says over 20,000 civilians have been killed there. During the siege, Russian forces also launched lethal airstrikes on a maternity hospital and a theater where civilians had taken shelter. Close to 600 people may have been killed at the theater.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence report Wednesday that Ukraine’s defense of Mariupol “inflicted costly personnel losses amongst Russian forces.”
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman said the Russian military was also holding more than 3,000 civilians from Mariupol at another former penal colony. Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said most civilians are held for a month, but those considered “particularly unreliable,” including former soldiers and police, are held for two months. The detainees include about 30 volunteers who delivered humanitarian supplies to Mariupol while it was under siege, she said.
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McQuillan and Yuras Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Mstyslav Chernov and Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Elena Becatoros in Odesa, Lorne Cook in Brussels and other AP staffers around the world contributed.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine