Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered to Russian forces in Mariupol, a port city in the southeast of the country that has been under siege for weeks.
In the city of Mariupol, in the area of the Ilyich metallurgical plant (…) 1026 Ukrainian soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade voluntarily laid down their weapons and surrendered.the ministry said in a statement, saying there were 47 women and 126 officers among them.
According to this source, 150 of them were injured and treated at the Mariupol hospital.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said he would not provide details regarding this information from Russia.
Reuters reported that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov insisted that more than 1,000 navy servicemen had surrendered to Russian forces and that he had called on other servicemen in the area of the Azovstal metallurgical plant to do the same.
Within Azovstal there are currently about 200 injured who do not receive any medical assistancesaid Kadyrov on social media. For them and everyone, it is better to end this useless protest and go home to their families.
On Tuesday, authorities in the region of southeastern Ukraine assessed the number of victims in Mariupol, which had been bombed for more than 40 days, at least 20,000.
Ukraine claims that tens of thousands of civilians have been taken prisoner from their homeland without a way to bring humanitarian aid, whether it be food or water, or the civilians have not yet been evacuated.
The fighting is now concentrated in the city’s massive industrial zone.
The acquisition of Mariupol will allow the Russians to consolidate their gains in coastal territory along the Azov Sea by connecting the Donbass region to the Crimean peninsula, which they consolidated in 2014.
Source: Radio-Canada