KYIV: About 1,000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who were turned inside out MariupolThe Russian said on Wednesday that the pulverized steel plant had surrendered, as the fighting that turned the city into a symbol of defiance and suffering around the world drew to a close.
Meanwhile, the Russian soldier captured earlier will be put on trial Ukraine He was found guilty of murder of a civilian on war-crime charges and could be sentenced to life imprisonment. and Finland and Sweden applied to join natoAbandoning generations of neutrality fearing that the Russian President Vladimir Putin Will not stop with Ukraine.
Ukrainian fighters who break out of the Azovstal steelworks, which have become the last bastion of resistance in the city, face an uncertain fate. Some were taken by the Russians to a former penal colony in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Ukraine said it expected soldiers back to a prisoner swap, but Russia Some of them were threatened with trial for war crimes.
It was unclear how many fighters were left inside the plant’s maze of tunnels and bunkers, where 2,000 are believed to have been hiding at one point. The leader of the Russian-backed separatist government, which claims Mariupol as part of its territory, said no top commander had left the plant.
The steel plant stood in the way of Russia declaring a complete capture of Mariupol. Its collapse would make Mariupol the largest Ukrainian city to be taken by the Russians, leading Putin into a war where many of his plans have failed.
Military analysts, however, stated that the capture of the city held more symbolic significance than anything else, as Mariupol was already effectively under Moscow’s control and many of the Russian forces that had been bound by the battle had already been defeated. has been thrown out.
Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said 959 Ukrainian soldiers had left the defenses since they began coming out on Monday.
Video shows fighters carrying their wounded on stretchers and pro-Kremlin pro-Kremlin searches doing pat-downs before being carried to buses escorted by military vehicles bearing the “Z” sign.
In the case of war crimes in Kyiv, Russian Sgt. Vadim Shishmarin, a 21-year-old member of the tank unit, pleaded guilty to shooting an unarmed Ukrainian 62-year-old man in the head through a car window in the early days of the war. Russia’s top prosecutor has said some 40 more war-crimes cases are being readied.
On the diplomatic front, Finland and Sweden could become NATO members within months if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reservations can be overcome. Erdogan has accused both countries of supporting Kurdish terrorists. Each of the 30 NATO countries has an effective veto on new members.
Mariupol’s defenders clinging to the steel mill for months and, against the odds, prevented Russia from completing its capture of the city and its port.
Its full possession would give Russia a monolithic land bridge to the Crimean peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. This would allow Russia to focus entirely on the larger battle for the Donbass in Ukraine’s industrial east.
For Ukraine, the surrender of the plant could spare the president Volodymyr ZelenskyThe U.S. government is ready to claim that the soldiers it had described as heroes were released.
“Zelensky may face unpleasant questions,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the independent Penta think tank in Kyiv. “Allegations of betraying the Ukrainian troops and voices of dissent are rising.”
He cautioned that there could also be an expected prisoner swap.
Russia’s main federal investigative body said it intended to “identify the nationalists” from the surrendered soldiers and determine whether they were involved in crimes against civilians.
Also, Russia’s top prosecutor has Supreme court To designate the Azov Regiment of Ukraine – from among the soldiers that made up the Azovstal garrison – as a terrorist organization. The roots of the regiment extend far and wide.
The Russian parliament was supposed to consider a proposal to ban the exchange of fighters of any Azov regiment, but did not raise the issue on Wednesday.
Mariupol was targeted by Russia from the beginning. The city—now reduced by about three-quarters to its former population of about 430,000—was largely flattened in steady bombing, and Ukraine says more than 20,000 civilians have been killed there.
During the siege, Russian forces also carried out deadly airstrikes on a maternity hospital and a theater where civilians had taken refuge. About 600 people must have died in the theater.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence report on Wednesday that Ukraine’s defense of Mariupol “harmed costly personnel” among Russian forces.
Meanwhile, the Russian soldier captured earlier will be put on trial Ukraine He was found guilty of murder of a civilian on war-crime charges and could be sentenced to life imprisonment. and Finland and Sweden applied to join natoAbandoning generations of neutrality fearing that the Russian President Vladimir Putin Will not stop with Ukraine.
Ukrainian fighters who break out of the Azovstal steelworks, which have become the last bastion of resistance in the city, face an uncertain fate. Some were taken by the Russians to a former penal colony in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Ukraine said it expected soldiers back to a prisoner swap, but Russia Some of them were threatened with trial for war crimes.
It was unclear how many fighters were left inside the plant’s maze of tunnels and bunkers, where 2,000 are believed to have been hiding at one point. The leader of the Russian-backed separatist government, which claims Mariupol as part of its territory, said no top commander had left the plant.
The steel plant stood in the way of Russia declaring a complete capture of Mariupol. Its collapse would make Mariupol the largest Ukrainian city to be taken by the Russians, leading Putin into a war where many of his plans have failed.
Military analysts, however, stated that the capture of the city held more symbolic significance than anything else, as Mariupol was already effectively under Moscow’s control and many of the Russian forces that had been bound by the battle had already been defeated. has been thrown out.
Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said 959 Ukrainian soldiers had left the defenses since they began coming out on Monday.
Video shows fighters carrying their wounded on stretchers and pro-Kremlin pro-Kremlin searches doing pat-downs before being carried to buses escorted by military vehicles bearing the “Z” sign.
In the case of war crimes in Kyiv, Russian Sgt. Vadim Shishmarin, a 21-year-old member of the tank unit, pleaded guilty to shooting an unarmed Ukrainian 62-year-old man in the head through a car window in the early days of the war. Russia’s top prosecutor has said some 40 more war-crimes cases are being readied.
On the diplomatic front, Finland and Sweden could become NATO members within months if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reservations can be overcome. Erdogan has accused both countries of supporting Kurdish terrorists. Each of the 30 NATO countries has an effective veto on new members.
Mariupol’s defenders clinging to the steel mill for months and, against the odds, prevented Russia from completing its capture of the city and its port.
Its full possession would give Russia a monolithic land bridge to the Crimean peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. This would allow Russia to focus entirely on the larger battle for the Donbass in Ukraine’s industrial east.
For Ukraine, the surrender of the plant could spare the president Volodymyr ZelenskyThe U.S. government is ready to claim that the soldiers it had described as heroes were released.
“Zelensky may face unpleasant questions,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the independent Penta think tank in Kyiv. “Allegations of betraying the Ukrainian troops and voices of dissent are rising.”
He cautioned that there could also be an expected prisoner swap.
Russia’s main federal investigative body said it intended to “identify the nationalists” from the surrendered soldiers and determine whether they were involved in crimes against civilians.
Also, Russia’s top prosecutor has Supreme court To designate the Azov Regiment of Ukraine – from among the soldiers that made up the Azovstal garrison – as a terrorist organization. The roots of the regiment extend far and wide.
The Russian parliament was supposed to consider a proposal to ban the exchange of fighters of any Azov regiment, but did not raise the issue on Wednesday.
Mariupol was targeted by Russia from the beginning. The city—now reduced by about three-quarters to its former population of about 430,000—was largely flattened in steady bombing, and Ukraine says more than 20,000 civilians have been killed there.
During the siege, Russian forces also carried out deadly airstrikes on a maternity hospital and a theater where civilians had taken refuge. About 600 people must have died in the theater.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence report on Wednesday that Ukraine’s defense of Mariupol “harmed costly personnel” among Russian forces.