Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian fighters who fled the last bastion of resistance in Mariupol have been transferred to a former prison colony in enemy -controlled territory and a senior military official expects to exchange them for prisoners of war. Russian war. But a lawmaker in Moscow said they should be punished “before justice”.
According to Russian news agencies, Russia’s parliament intends to pass a resolution on Wednesday to prevent the exchange of Azov regimental fighters stranded at the Azovstal steel plant for months before the siege of Mariupol.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that nearly 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers trapped in Azovstal had surrendered this week. More than 260 remained on Monday and nearly 700 had already left.
Many were wounded and it is not known how many fighters remained in the expanded steel plant.
Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said talks were underway for the release of the fighters, as well as the withdrawal of fighters who were in the expanded steel plant. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said the plans “involve the most influential international mediator”. Officials did not say how much was left inside.
Troops from the Waterfront Steel Mill were the last pockets of the resistance in Mariupol, which has long been in Russian hands.
Unrelated developments that could preclude any declaration of Russia’s victory in Mariupol, Sweden and Finland formally announced NATO membership on Wednesday, fueled by security concerns of Russia’s aggression.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on February 24 because he said it was an attempt to scrutinize NATO’s expansion, but he saw the approach as counterproductive by attracting Swedish and Finnish society to the Western Alliance.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was in favor of the questions, which will now be reviewed by 30 member countries.
Mariupol was a target of Russia in the early days of the invasion. The British Defense Ministry said on Wednesday in their daily intelligence report that Ukraine had fiercely resisted the city’s strategic port, costing Russia time and troops as it tried to seize the land corridor from the territory. its up to the Crimean peninsula, which was kidnapped from Ukraine in 2014..
“Despite the fact that Russian forces have besieged Mariupol for more than 10 weeks, strong resistance from Ukraine has hampered Russia’s ability to gain full control of the city,” the ministry said. “This thwarted his first attempts to seize a major city and caused costly personnel losses to Russian forces.
Jets of 260 Ukrainian fighters – Some of them seriously wounded and pulled on a stretcher – on Monday they left the ruins of the Azovstal factory and handed over to the Russian side in an agreement reached by the warring parties. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that 694 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 959.
Seven buses carrying an unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers from the factory were spotted on Tuesday at the former penitentiary in the city of Olenivka, 88 kilometers (55 miles) north of Mariupol.
With the departure of the fighters, Mariupol was on the brink of full Russian control. Its capture could be the largest city by Moscow’s forces and give the Kremlin an indispensable victory, even if the landscape is more damaged.
The soldiers who left the factory were searched by Russian troops, boarded buses and taken to two cities controlled by Moscow -backed separatists. According to both sides, more than 50 fighters were seriously injured.
It is impossible to confirm the total number of fighters brought to Olenivka or their legal status. Although Mariupol and Olenyevsk are both officially part of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Olenyovka has controlled Russian -backed separatists since 2014 and is part of the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic. Before the rebels were caught, prison colony no. The 120 is a top security facility designed to house inmates convicted of serious crimes.
Associated Press footage showed the convoy accompanied by military vehicles with the Kremlin “Z” sign as Soviet flags flew from poles along the road. About 20 Ukrainian fighters were spotted on one of the buses.
The Ukrainian Ombudsman for Ukraine said the Russian army was detaining more than 3,000 Mariupol civilians in another former prison colony near Olenivka. Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova said most civilians were jailed for a month, but those she considered “particularly untrustworthy”, including former soldiers and police officers, were jailed for two months. Among those detained were about 30 volunteers who provided humanitarian supplies to Mariupol while it was under siege, he said.
While Ukraine hopes to free the fighters, Vyacheslav Volodin, spokesman for Russia’s lower house of parliament, said without proof that the defenders are “war criminals” and that “we must do everything possible to bring they are in justice “.
Russia’s main federal investigative body said it intended to question the troops to “identify the nationalists” and determine if they were involved in crimes against civilians. Russia’s chief prosecutor also asked the country’s Supreme Court to declare the Ukrainian Azov regiment a terrorist organization. The regiment is related to the far right.
Russia’s bombing killed more than 20,000 civilians, according to Ukraine, and left the rest of the population – perhaps a quarter of the pre -war population in the southern port city – up to 430,000 – with little food, water, heat or medicine.
Gaining full control of Mariupol, south of the eastern Donbass region, is more a symbolic incentive for Russian President Vladimir Putin than a military victory, said retired French Vice Admiral Michel Olhagarai, former head of main military center of France. Education.
“Actually, Mariupol has already fallen,” he said.
But because of the “incredible resistance” of Azovstal’s defenders, Ukraine could also claim to have taken the top spot, he said.
“Both sides can be proud or proud of success, with different types of success,” he said.
Former adviser to the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podoliak compared Ukraine’s defenders to the Spartans who were far superior to the Persian forces in ancient Greece. “Mariupol’s 83 -day defense will go down in history as a 21st century thermopylae,” he tweeted.
Reported by McQuillan and Yuras Karmanau from Lviv, Ukraine. Mstislav Chernov and Andrea Rosa in Kharkov, Elena Bekatoros in Odessa, Loren Cook in Brussels and other AP staff from around the world.
Source: Huffpost
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