The fate of nearly 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers of the Azov battalion surrendered

About 960 Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol has surrendered since May 16, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

The Russian Defense Ministry said at a meeting on the morning of May 18, a total of 959 Ukrainian soldiers previously hiding in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol surrendered this week. Ukraine is expecting a prisoner exchange, while prosecutors in Russia are considering the possibility of putting more people on trial.

RT quoted Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov as saying that the number of people detained had increased by 694 in the past 24 hours. Among them 80 people were injured, 51 were treated at a hospital provided by the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

Azovstal Factory is the last bastion of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, an important port city that the DPR claims as part of its territory. The Russian military and the DPR did not attack this vast site and instead sealed off the factory.

Kiev confirmed it had ordered its troops to surrender, although President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as an evacuation.

“The operation to rescue the defenders of Mariupol was initiated by our military and intelligence officers with the goal of bringing them home. The work goes on and this work requires ingenuity and time,” Zelensky said.

On April 18, the Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing Ukrainian forces leaving Azovstal empty-handed. Russian soldiers did a thorough search before allowing the men to leave by bus or ambulance, accompanied by a military vehicle. Ukrainian soldiers are understood to be held by the DPR.

Ukrainian officials have made it clear that they expect captured soldiers to be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war. However, many soldiers of the Azov battalion are extremists accused of many war crimes by Russia.

A draft law was submitted to the Russian parliament on May 17 that classifies Azov as a terrorist organization. A similar request was submitted by the Prosecutor General’s Office to the Supreme Court of Russia. If passed, the draft would open a legal avenue for prosecution of all Azov members for standing in the ranks of the unit rather than for specific crimes. Azov Battalion officially part of the National Guard of Ukraine.