Ministry of Defense of Russia statedthat the Azovstal plant in Mariupol came under the control of Russian troops. It is alleged that a total of 2439 Ukrainian military surrendered, who were on the territory of the plant.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has already reported to President Vladimir Putin on “the completion of the operation and the complete liberation of the plant and the city of Mariupol from Ukrainian militants,” the ministry said.
In my country blocked
present tense
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation also reported that among the soldiers who surrendered was the “so-called commander” of the Azov regiment. He was taken out of the territory of the plant in a special armored car “because of the hatred of the Mariupol residents and the desire of the townspeople to punish him for numerous atrocities.”
At the same time, the name of the commander is not indicated in the official statement of the department. An hour before the statement by Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, Channel One reported that Azov commander Denis Prokopenko had surrendered.
The Ukrainian side has not yet commented on the statement of the Russian Defense Ministry. President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview recorded on the occasion of the third anniversary of his inauguration, saidthat the military at the plant “received an order that they have every right to go out and save their lives.”
According to Zelensky, he negotiated the withdrawal of the military “with Turkey, Switzerland, Israel, France because of the relationship of their leaders with the Russian Federation.”
“Although, to be honest, I spoke dozens, hundreds of times with the leaders of other states in order to provide appropriate weapons to our military, so that we reach Mariupol by military means in order to unblock these people,” the President of Ukraine said.
The Ukrainian military, who held the defense at Azovstal, began to leave from there on May 16, then they are transferred to the territories controlled by Russia. The Azov regiment reported that they were following the order of the command, the Ukrainian General Staff said that they would be returned “under the exchange procedure.” In Russia, this is called surrender.
After the start of the procedure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the work to return the military “requires delicacy and time,” and stressed that “Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive.”
However, the State Duma proposed to legally prohibit “the exchange of any of the Nazi criminals” and make an exception from the moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Russia. On May 17, it became known that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia applied to the Supreme Court to recognize the Ukrainian Azov Regiment as a terrorist organization and ban its activities in the country.
The fighters of the Azov regiment and other Ukrainian units held the defense of the port city of Mariupol, which had been under siege since the beginning of March, and were blocked at the Azovstal metallurgical plant.
Formation “Azov” was founded in 2014 as a volunteer battalion, at its origins were far-right activists. At the same time, many Azov fighters emphasize that they are not neo-Nazis, and the regiment itself has become an integral part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
