Ukrainian soldiers who lay down their weapons at the Azovstal factory could face the death penalty
Soldiers who lay down their weapons at the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol could face the death penalty, a government official in the eastern Ukraine separatist region said.
“The court will decide on their fate,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Yuri Sirovatko, head of the judicial branch of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) administration in the east. Ukraine, said in reference to the soldiers who surrendered at Mariupol.
“For such crimes, our highest punishment would be the death penalty,” added Sirovatko, declaring that all of the troops of Ukraine have all been returned to DPR territory.
Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers defending the strategic port city of Mariupol have laid down their weapons before the Russians since May 16, after weeks of fighting inside tunnels under the Azovstal factory. The Kiev government proposed to exchange these soldiers in the form of a prisoner-of-war swap, but the Russia said they would be brought to trial first.
Among the Ukrainian soldiers who laid down their weapons at Azovstal were members of the Azov Brigade, an armed force that Russia accuses of harboring neo-Nazi elements.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov promised the soldiers would be treated “in line with international standards”. Meanwhile, Russia’s investigative agency said it was planning to question Ukrainian soldiers, and possibly charge them with “actions committed against civilians in southeastern Ukraine”.
The Russian army now has complete control of the city of Mariupol. This gives Moscow control of the entire Sea of Azov area, and at the same time forms a continuous strip of land connecting Russia’s territory with the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed from 2014.
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