This footage released by pro-Russian separatists reportedly shows the first freight vessel arriving in the port of Mariupol since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

The images show a tugboat escorting the cargo ship into port under the watchful eye of a military vessel. The footage then reportedly shows scrap metal being loaded onto the vessel as the footage ends.

The footage was shared online by the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and they said: “In the port of Mariupol, for the first time during the NWO, a Russian dry cargo ship arrived in the port of Mariupol.

“The resumption of the work of the port became possible thanks to the specialists of the Black Sea Fleet.

“The entrance to the harbour was unlocked from sunken floating cranes, the mine danger was eliminated. The port is free and has started its work from today.”

Russian state media also carried the report, stating that the Slavutich-type ship was the first to enter the port of Mariupol since the “liberation” of the strategic port city and since the beginning of the war, which they are still calling a “special military operation”.

They added that scrap metal is destined for the port of Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, and that their seizure is lawful under agreements established before the “special military operation”.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 96th day of the campaign.

From 24th February to 30th May, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 30,350 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,349 tanks, 3,282 armoured fighting vehicles, 643 artillery systems, 205 multiple launch rocket systems, 93 anti-aircraft systems, 207 warplanes, 174 helicopters, 2,258 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 507 unmanned aerial vehicles, 48 units of special equipment, and 118 cruise missiles.

Ukrainian officials believe that approximately 20,000 civilians have died in Mariupol. The last Ukrainian forces, which were holding out at the Azovstal steelworks, in a complex system of underground bunkers and passageways, recently surrendered Russian forces.

The Ukrainian government is attempting to get them back in a prisoner exchange with Russia.