Evacuation at the Mariupol Steel Plant?
Russia reports deal - and wants to bring Ukrainians into separatist zone
Created: 05/17/2022, 14:16
By: Linus Prien
Ukrainian soldiers have been holed up in the Mariupol steelworks for weeks.
The Kremlin is now reporting an agreement – but Kyiv is silent.
According to the Kremlin, after days of negotiations, the Russian and Ukrainian military have agreed to evacuate injured fighters from the Mariupol steelworks.
There was initially no official confirmation from Ukraine.
The port city of Mariupol has been under siege since the escalating Ukraine conflict began.
The number of Ukrainian soldiers who recently holed up in the Azovstal plant is unclear.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Monday that a ceasefire was in effect and a humanitarian corridor would be opened.
The Ukrainian fighters were to receive medical treatment in the pro-Russian separatist-controlled city of Novoazovsk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine War: Zelenskyj's government called for evacuation outside of Russian-held areas
The government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv had always demanded that the injured be transferred to the territory controlled by Ukraine or to a third country.
In the meantime, Turkey had offered to evacuate the Ukrainian soldiers across the Black Sea and provide them with medical care.
Already in the morning, pro-Russian separatists reported that the first Ukrainian fighters had surrendered and left the steelworks with white flags.
This was later denied by the Ukrainian side.
On Monday (May 16), the Nexta media network reported that the steelworks was still being shelled.
War in Ukraine: Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol fear Russian prisoners of war
According to Ukrainian sources, around 1,000 defenders of Mariupol are holed up in the Azovstal industrial zone.
Hundreds of them are said to be injured.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the war against Ukraine on February 24, has repeatedly called on militants to lay down their arms and surrender.
They refused because they did not want to go into Russian captivity.
Throughout the war, reports of Ukrainian soldiers, as well as civilians, being taken prisoner by the Russians were repeatedly published.
According to the prisoners, they were sometimes badly mistreated.
(lp/dpa) You can read reports on military events in the Ukraine war in this news ticker.