Moscow announced that almost 700 additional Ukrainian fighters had surrendered in Russian-held Mariupol, consolidating a crucial gain in the south, while the United States reopened its embassy in Kiev.
Ukraine has ordered the withdrawal of its Mariupol garrison, but the final conclusion of Europe's bloodiest combat in decades remains uncertain.
According to the leader of pro-Russian separatists in charge of the region, Denis Pushilin, quoted by local news agency DNA on Wednesday, the top commanders of Ukrainian fighters who made their last stand at the Azovstal steelworks in the port city are still inside the plant.
Officials from Ukraine have declined to comment on the fate of the fighters.
On Tuesday, Ukraine reported the surrender of more than 250 fighters but did not specify how many others were still inside.
Russia said that an additional 694 fighters had surrendered, bringing the total to 959. After surrendering at Azovstal, its defense ministry uploaded videos of what it claimed were Ukrainian fighters receiving hospital treatment.
Mariupol is the largest city Russia has conquered thus far, allowing Vladimir Putin to claim a success in the invasion that began on February 24.
Moscow has focused its latest offensives on the southeast after withdrawing from Kyiv, where the United States said on Wednesday that it has restarted activities at its embassy as a further gesture of normalization.
"The Ukrainian people defended their homeland in the face of Russia's atrocious invasion," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated. "As a result, the Stars and Stripes are once again flying over the U.S. Embassy."
Initially, a small number of diplomats will return to staff the mission, but consular functions will not begin immediately, according to Daniel Langkamp, a spokesperson for the embassy.
Canada, Britain, and others have restored embassy activities recently.
Moscow has said that it is conducting a "special military operation" to demilitarize and "denazify" its neighbor. The West and Kiev view this as a bogus justification for an attack.
On Wednesday, Finland and Sweden formally requested for NATO membership, a decision made in response to the Ukrainian invasion and the same expansion that Putin invoked as justification for invading Ukraine.
The U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, advocated for a streamlined admission procedure that could be completed "in a few of months," but NATO member Turkey stated that its approval was contingent on the repatriation of "terrorists," mainly Kurdish militants and Fethullah Gulen supporters.
