The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday that 1,730 Ukrainian soldiers hod up at the Azovstal steel site in Mariupol have surrendered since Monday.
In the past 24 hours, 771 fighters from the nationalist Azov regiment have surrendered to the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. In total since May 16, 1,730 fighters, including 80 wounded, have become prisoners.said the ministry in a statement.
The ministry has released a video showing soldiers leaving the steel site and being checked by Russian soldiers before boarding buses. Among the Ukrainians, some were injured and some were walking on crutches.
For weeks now these soldiers have been imprisoned in the underground galleries of Azovstal’s large ironworks, which have become an international symbol of resistance to Russia’s offensive launched on February 24th.
On Wednesday, when 959 troops had already surrendered, pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Pushilin said there was a first. more than 2000 people in iron works.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has registered hundreds of these Ukrainian fighters as prisoners of war since Tuesday. the ICRCExplained, that there is a duty to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, which includes in the registration process, among other things, the gathering of information about soldiers to ensure their well -being.
Commanders and senior warriors of [régiment] Azov has not come out yet of the last stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in this port city, he added.
Several hundred civilians took refuge in these basements; they were evacuated at the end of April.
Ukrainian authorities wanted to arrange an exchange of prisoners of war, but Russian authorities have repeatedly indicated that they treat some of them not as soldiers, but as neo-Nazi fighters.
The strategic port of Mariupol, where the Azovstal industrial area is located, was completely devastated by the fighting. Ukraine says more than 20,000 civilians died there.
The total takeover of the city will be an important step forward for Russia. It will allow the land to connect the Crimean peninsula (south), which Moscow annexed in 2014, to parts of Donbass (east) already in the hands of pro-Russian separatists.
Alleged abuses in Mariupol
The Russians flew to Mariupol. The occupiers are now trying to set up the commercial port to export the equivalent of millions of dollars of cereals, metallurgical products.argued Wednesday night with the Telegram at the town hall of Mariupol.
According to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, Russian officials admitted that, despite claiming that they were the ‘liberators’, Russian troops were doing serious work in the city, including beating and electrocuting city officials, and stealing property. home.
Russian officials are concerned that these activities could further motivate Mariupol residents to resist the occupation.he continued.
Investigations by Ukrainian authorities and foreign bodies continue with numerous accusations of abuses and war crimes committed by Russian troops. The International Criminal Court sent a team of 42 investigators and experts, its largest mission ever sent to the field.
More than 8000 cases Suspected war crimes have been identified in Ukraine, said at the end of April the prosecutor general of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova.
A war crime trial opened in kyiv on Wednesday, the first since the aggression. 21-year-old soldier Vadim Chichimarine was accused of shooting dead a 62-year-old civilian riding an unarmed bicycle in late February. He pleaded guilty and faced life imprisonment.
Source: Radio-Canada
