Ukraine orders the fighters at the Azovstal steel plant to surrender

RT reported, on May 16, the General Staff of the Armed Forces Ukraine confirmed on social networks that the soldiers hiding at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol have been ordered to surrender.

“The Mariupol garrison has completed its assigned combat mission. The highest military command has ordered the commanders of the units stationed in Azovstal to save the lives of servicemen,” the military statement explained. According to Kiev, while entrenched in Azovstal, Ukrainian soldiers prevented Russian troops from operating in other areas.

Kiev asserts that the Azov Battalion and members of the regular forces “thwarted the implementation of the (supposedly Russian) plan to quickly capture Zaporozhye, and did not allow access to the administrative border of Donetsk. and Zaporozhye”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said bringing the force back would require “dexterity and time”.

“Thanks to the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, intelligence, as well as the negotiating team, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, we hope to be able to rescue our servicemen. I want to emphasize that Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle. I think everyone will understand these words. To bring our troops home, the work continues, and this work requires ingenuity and time,” Zelensky said.

The first phase of surrender was completed on May 16 with 264 soldiers leaving Azovstal. There are currently 53 wounded soldiers at a hospital in Novoazovsk and 211 in Yelenovka, both part of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Russian sources estimate that around 2,200 people have been trapped in the basements of the giant Azovstal steel plant. The site is 11 square kilometers and the underground sections of the plant are designed to withstand a nuclear attack.

According to Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Anna Malyar and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, those who surrender will be exchanged for Russian prisoners taken by Kiev. However, the terms of the exchange have yet to be decided.

Moscow has yet to make any public statements about an exchange. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side tried to avoid using the phrase “surrender”.

After the last Ukrainian soldier left Azovstal, the battle for Mariupol will end and Russia will gain full control of this strategically important city.