Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers laid down their arms at the Azovstal steel works in the decimated city of Mariupol overnight, part of a negotiated end to a weeks-long stalemate at the Ukrainian Alamo.
More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated into Russian custody late Monday, with several dozen of the most seriously wounded fighters bound for a hospital in Novoazovsk, a Russian-held town 25 miles east of the plant.
An unknown number of fighters remained in the plant, and Ukrainian authorities said they were still working to rescue them. Officials in Kyiv said Mariupol’s defenders had “completed their mission,” and admitted there was no way to free the plant by military means.
With Mariupol more ruin than metropolis after months of heavy fighting, both sides were left trying to frame the outcome as a victory.
“Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. That is our principle,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday night. “Our military and intelligence have started the operation to save Mariupol’s defenders.”
Injured Ukrainian service members use crutches at a field hospital inside a bunker of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, Ukraine. Dmytro Orest Kozatskyi/Press service of Azov Regiment/Handout via REUTERS
Ukrainian service members are searched by pro-Russian military personnel after leaving the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol. Russian Defence Ministry/AFP via“The work continues to bring the guys home, and it requires delicacy and time,” he added.
It was unclear if soldiers evacuated to Russian-controlled areas would be considered prisoners of war, and Ukrainian authorities said work was already underway to make a deal to return them from Russian custody.
Ukraine avoided the word “surrender” in describing the deal — though Russian sources showed no such inclination.
A plant at Azovstal Iron and Steel Works damaged during showers of brightly burning munitions. via REUTERS
Ukrainian servicemen carry a wounded comrade as they are evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. EPA“Overall, 256 Ukrainian militants have surrendered from the territory of the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol,” the self-styled, Russian-aligned Donetsk People’s Republic said in a Telegram post. “There were 51 wounded militants among those captured.”
The fall of Mariupol gives Russian forces an uninterrupted corridor connecting its Crimea-based forces to its operations in the Donbas, the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine. It remains to be seen, though, if such access is too little, too late, as Moscow’s troops in the Donbas fail to make significant gains against the Ukrainian army.
Nevertheless, Russian forces continued to pound targets in the Donbas as the war enters its 12th week, with town-to-town fighting throughout eastern Ukraine.
A service member of Mariupol’s unit of the Ukrainian Sea Guard reads inside a bunker of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. via REUTERS
Pro-Russian troops wait atop an armored personnel carrier before the expected evacuation of wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the besieged Azovstal steel mill. REUTERSIn the Donbas city of Severodonetsk, officials said there was heavy Russian bombardment earlier this week, killing at least 10 civilians. The Severodonetsk suburbs have been the site of numerous clashes over the past week.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk oblast that makes up the southern Donbas, said at least nine civilians were killed in artillery strikes so far this week, but he did not give any further details as to where the strikes occurred.
The ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive around the northeastern city of Kharkiv has pushed Russian troops out of Ukraine and back over the border, officials in Kyiv said Monday.
Ukrainian servicemen wait in a bus as they are evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. EPA
An injured Ukrainian service member sits at a field hospital inside a bunker of the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol. via REUTERSThe Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted a video on Facebook Monday showing troops with the 227 Battalion 127th Brigade of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces standing at a blue and yellow border post.
“Together for the win!” the ministry posted.
Ukrainian claims of reaching the Russian border came after a swift series of Ukrainian counterattacks outside Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.
A plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in the southern port city of Mariupol. REUTERS
Russian servicemen frisk Ukrainian servicemen as they are evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. EPA
A Ukrainian serviceman receives first aid from a Russian military doctor as they are being evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. EPAUkrainian forces last week succeeded in pushing Russian artillery out of range of the city, taking back a series of northern suburbs in the process. Kharkiv is located in northeastern Ukraine, some 25 miles from the northern border with Russia.
Russian strikes reached into western Ukraine as well, with missiles hitting Lviv and Yavoriv. Yavoriv, some 10 miles from the Polish border, is home to Ukrainian military infrastructure.
With Post wires
