Azovstal steel plant soldier’s safety fears

More than 250 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated from the Azovstal steel complex in Mariupol yesterday.

In difficult conditions, they had opposed the Russian advance for several weeks.

Five vehicles carrying soldiers landed in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk, where Moscow claimed the injured would be treated.

Seven buses of troops came at the freshly reopened jail in Olenivka, a Russian-controlled town.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated: “The evacuation effort is still ongoing. Our military and intelligence officers are in charge of it. The world’s most powerful international mediators are participating.”

Russia and Ukraine had both spoken of a deal in which the troops would be allowed to leave the steel facility, but many elements of the agreement were not made public.

The following questions remain unanswered:

– How many fighters remain on the inside?

– Was a prisoner exchange agreed upon? And what exactly are the terms?

According to the Kremlin, the inmates would be treated in accordance with international norms. Ukraine has stated its desire for a prisoner swap.

Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, stated on Twitter that no agreement has been reached.

According to TASS, a Russian commission aims to interview the Ukrainian troops, many of whom are members of the Azov Battalion, as part of what Moscow refers to be “Ukrainian regime crimes.”

“Nazi offenders should not be exchanged,” declared Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower chamber, the State Duma.

One of Russia’s negotiators in negotiations with Ukraine, Leonid Slutsky, dubbed the evacuated militants “animals in human form” and urged they should be executed.

The Azov Regiment was founded in 2014 as an extreme right-wing militia to combat Russian-backed rebels, while it denies being fascist or neo-Nazi. According to Ukraine, the unit has been reconstituted and is now part of the National Guard.