Russia announced yesterday that another 694 Ukrainian forces “surrendered” at Mariupol’s beleaguered Azovstal steel mill in the previous day, raising the total this week to nearly 1,000, in a new hint that the months-long war for control of the territory is drawing to an end.
According to Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov, those who surrendered to Russian military around the factory included 29 wounded.
Since Monday, 959 Ukrainian servicemen have left Azovstal, he said.
The Russian assertions have not been corroborated by Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky stated earlier in his evening address to the country that the “evacuation mission” was ongoing with assistance from “the most important international mediators,” without going into further detail.
The fate of the forces captured at Azovstal may hamper efforts to restart peace talks, which both sides claim have stopped. Their defiance against Russian troops who had conquered the remainder of Mariupol earned them heroic status among Ukrainians, with many appealing to the international community to assist in the fighters’ rescue.
If the Azovstal guards are killed, Zelenskiy has stated that there will be no discussions with Moscow.
After emerging from Azovstal late Monday, 265 Ukrainian troops, including at least 51 seriously injured soldiers, were taken into Russian custody. Ukraine has stated that it expects the fighters to be part of an eventual prisoner swap with Russia, following the military’s announcement that the mission to defend the Azovstal plant had concluded.
Russia has not publicly stated whether or not an agreement exists. Vyacheslav Volodin, the Russian lower house speaker, warned legislators on Tuesday that there should be no exchange for “war criminals.”
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, tweeted that the Azov soldiers had “unconditionally surrendered.”
The Investigative Committee in Moscow has stated that it aims to question the captives who were transferred to Russia-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine for possible prosecution.
According to Interfax, the Russian Supreme Court will also hear an application from the Prosecutor General’s Office to designate Ukraine’s Azov Battalion as a “terrorist organization” on Thursday next week, potentially opening the way for sentences of up to 20 years for those convicted of involvement.
Senior Russian politician Leonid Slutsky, who was part of the Russian negotiating team that participated in peace talks with Ukrainian counterparts, has urged for the lifting of Russia’s ban on capital punishment to enable for the death sentence against that taken prisoner.
Those who resisted Russia’s assault on Azovstal for 83 days “completely changed the course of the war,” said Mikhailo Podolyak, a Zelenskiy aide, on Twitter.
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