More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said Monday, according to the AFP news agency.
"53 heavily wounded (soldiers) were evacuated from Azovstal to the medical mortgage near Novoazovsk for medical aid," Malyar said in a statement.
Another 211 were taken out through the humanitarian corridor to Olenivka, she added.
Both Novoazovsk and Olenivka are now under the control of Russian troops and Russia-backed separatists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that "we hope to save the lives of our boys".
"I want to underline: Ukraine needs its Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle," he said in a video statement late Monday.
Ukraine's general staff said the soldiers in Mariupol "performed their combat task" and now the main goal is to "save the lives of personnel".
The Azovstal plant has become a symbol of resistance, with hundreds of troops continuing to fight on there even after the rest of the city had fallen to Russian forces.
Two weeks ago, roughly 100 civilians were evacuated from the besieged steel plant.
Several weeks before that, Russia's defense ministry issued an ultimatum to Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol to surrender or "face certain death."
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal later vowed to fight to the end in Mariupol.
"The city still has not fallen," Shmyhal said hours after Moscow's deadline had passed, adding, "There's still our military forces, our soldiers. So they will fight to the end."