Russia stated Tuesday that 265 Ukrainian soldiers holed up in Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant had «gave up,» negating Kyiv’s account that the evacuated soldiers would certainly be exchanged later.
«The abandonment of boxers from the Azov nationalist system and also Ukrainian servicemen blocked in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol began yesterday,» the Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily briefing.
Russia’s armed force said 265 fighters, 51 of whom were seriously wounded, «put down their arms.»
Those in need of medical help were sent to a health center in the community of Novoazovsk, which is regulated by pro-Russia separatists, it included.
Ukraine’s protection ministry stated Monday the fighters had been evacuated via altruistic corridors to areas under Moscow-backed and russian separatists’ control and also that a more «exchange procedure» would occur later on.
Quickly after the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement, the audio speaker of Russia’s reduced house of parliament, the State Duma, ordered lawmakers to prepare a standing order prohibiting the exchange of Azovstal troops for Russian detainees of war.
«Nazi bad guys need to not be subject to exchange. They are battle wrongdoers and we must do everything to bring them to justice,» Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin was priced quote as saying.
Russia has actually been incoming what it terms a «special military procedure» in Ukraine based on the false claim of «de-Nazifying» its pro-Western next-door neighbor.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s defense ministry claimed a rescue objective to draw out the last of the estimated 340 continuing to be Azovstal defenders was underway.
«Our state is taking all required rescue measures,» the ministry claimed in a Telegram message.
It attributed the defenders of Azovstal for delaying the transfer of 20,000 Russian soldiers to various other parts of Ukraine, protecting against Moscow from quickly capturing the southern city of Zaporizhzhia and also allowing Ukrainian pressures to collect yourself.
The general team of Ukraine’s militaries stated previously Tuesday that the objective to defend Azovstal is over, successfully yielding control of Mariupol to Moscow and also opening a land hallway in between annexed Crimea as well as mainland Russia.
Mariupol has experienced some of the war’s most harsh shelling given that Russian troops surrounded it in the early days of the intrusion.
