Russia yesterday said another 694 Ukrainian troops “surrendered” at Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant in the past day, bringing the total close to 1,000 this week, in a fresh sign the months-long battle for control of the territory is coming to an end.
Those who gave themselves up to Russian soldiers surrounding the plant included 29 wounded, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
In all, 959 Ukrainian service people have now left Azovstal since Monday, he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Ukraine has not confirmed the Russian claims.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier in his nightly address to the nation that the “evacuation mission” was continuing with help from “the most influential international mediators,” without elaborating.
The fate of the forces taken prisoner at Azovstal might further complicate efforts to resume peace negotiations that both sides say are stalled. Their resistance against overwhelming odds to defy Russian troops who had seized the rest of Mariupol brought them heroic status among Ukrainians, with many appealing to the international community to help rescue the fighters.
Zelenskiy has said there can be no talks with Moscow if the Azovstal defenders are killed.
Late on Monday, 265 Ukrainian troops, including at least 51 badly wounded soldiers, were taken into Russian custody after emerging from Azovstal. Ukraine has said it expects the fighters to be part of an eventual prisoner swap with Russia after the military said the mission to defend the Azovstal plant had come to an end.
Russia has not said publicly if any agreement exists. Russian lower house speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told lawmakers on Tuesday there should be no exchange for what he called “war criminals.”
The Azov forces “unconditionally surrendered,” Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy wrote on Twitter.
The Investigative Committee in Moscow announced it intends to interrogate the prisoners, who were taken to Russia-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine, for possible prosecution.
The Russian Supreme Court is also to hear on Thursday next week an application from the Prosecutor General’s Office to designate Ukraine’s Azov Battalion as a “terrorist organization,” potentially opening the way for sentences of up to 20 years for those convicted of involvement, the Interfax news service reported.
Senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, who was part of the Russian negotiating team that took part in peace talks with Ukrainian counterparts, called for a moratorium on capital punishment in Russia to be lifted to allow for the death penalty against those taken prisoner.
Those who held out against Russia’s assault at Azovstal for 83 days “completely changed the course of the war,” Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskiy, wrote on Twitter.
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