Azovmash is the first facility to be demined since fighting ended in that city in the spring of last year.

The plan was founded in 1958 and became the largest machine-building enterprise in Ukraine, where thousands of Mariupol residents worked.

The plant’s infrastructure was severely damaged during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops to control the Azov seaport.

Fighting over Mariupol began on February 25, a day after Russia launched its military operation in eastern Ukraine.

On April 21, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reported the liberation of Mariupol by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the people’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

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