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Denys Prokopenko, the commander of Azov special regiment, said on May 16 that Ukrainian soldiers at Azovstal have "fulfilled their orders" and "were distracting the Russian army for 82 days." The statement appeared to signal the end of the siege of Azovstal, the steel plant that remains the last Ukrainian-held part of Mariupol. Russian media claimed on May 16 that an agreement was reached to evacuate heavily wounded soldiers from Azovstal to the Russian-occupied city of Novoazovsk. Reuters reported that about a dozen buses apparently carrying Ukrainian fighters left the plant.