Yahoo TV

STORY: Four Ukrainian women, accompanied by Ukrainian activist and 2004 Eurovision song contest winner Ruslana, addressed the media in Istanbul before departing for the Turkish capital Ankara for a possible meeting with Erdogan.

"We hope that Mr. Erdogan has enough power and we hope that the strongest man of the world will join their forces and will help to protect our brave warriors in Azovstal plant in Mariupol," said Natalia Zarytska, wife of one of the remaining Azov fighters still inside the steel works.

Mariupol, a port on the Sea of Azov, has endured the most destructive fighting of the war in Ukraine. Kyiv says it is likely that tens of thousands of people have been killed there since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, and the Azovstal steel plant is the last part of the city still held by Ukrainian fighters.

Earlier on Monday, Russia's defense ministry said an agreement had been reached to transport wounded Ukrainian soldiers out of the besieged Azovstal steel works in Mariupol to a medical facility in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk, Russian news agencies reported.

They said a humanitarian corridor had been opened for that purpose.