Prisoner swap fails?

Russian negotiator calls for death penalty for Azov militants

Created: 05/17/2022, 18:56

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi, Fabian Müller

In the Ukraine war, Putin apparently intervened heavily in the fighting.

He should personally make tactical decisions about battles.

The news ticker.

• Escalated Ukraine conflict:

  Russia continues to try to make progress in Donbass.

• Putin intervenes in battles

  : Apparently, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin makes tactical decisions - and accuses the West of "war".

• Evacuation from Azovstal

  : Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated from the besieged Azovstal Steelworks.

• This

  news ticker on the military situation in the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

Update from May 17, 4:28 p.m .:

The Ukrainian government plans to exchange captured soldiers.

Among them are said to be around 260 soldiers from the Azowstal steelworks.

More than 50 of them, some seriously wounded, have been taken to Novoazovsk, about 40 kilometers east of Mariupol, according to Russian sources.

There their wounds are to be treated.

200 more fighters were brought to Olenivka.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized in his daily video address that Ukraine needs its heroes back alive.

But the Russian side is apparently not going into the plans.

There are reports of a ban on prisoner exchanges, and even the death penalty is openly debated in the country.

The speaker of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, announced during a session of the parliament that the Ukrainian "Nazi criminals" should not be exchanged for captured Russians and that a corresponding decision should be prepared.

Volodin subsequently became even clearer: "These are war criminals and we must do everything we can to bring them to justice."

Meanwhile, the Russian negotiator Leonid Slutski is said to have demanded the death penalty for the Ukrainian prisoners.

According to Slutski, the Azov fighters have no right to life.

"They do not deserve to live in the face of the monstrous human rights crimes they have committed and continue to commit against our prisoners," said the negotiator, who is negotiating on behalf of Russia with Ukraine.

The death penalty is not currently used in Russia, but former President Dmitry Medvedev brought it back into play after Russia's war of aggression began.

Ukraine-Russia deal in Mariupol underway - Putin accuses the West of "war".

Update from May 17, 2:00 p.m.:

It is the last bastion in Mariupol: the Azovstal steelworks.

Ukrainian soldiers have been holding out in the industrial area for weeks, and now the last of them are to be rescued.

"We are working on further stages of the humanitarian operation," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.

Apparently there is a deal between Kyiv and Moscow for the evacuation.

The 52 seriously injured people who were brought out of the steel mill on Monday would soon be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war, she said.

There was no further confirmation from the Russian side.

The day before, a total of around 260 Ukrainians who had previously holed up on the factory premises surrendered.

The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv justified the step with the "completion of combat tasks".

This photo, distributed by the Russian Defense Ministry, shows the rescue of Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal Steel Works.

© IMAGO/Russian Defense Ministry

Ukraine-Russia-News: Putin accuses the West of "war".

Update from May 17, 11:45 a.m

.: The Ukraine war has been raging for 82 days.

Russia prefers to speak of a "military special operation", but has now also used the word "war".

However, in a different context.

The Kremlin accuses the West of

waging war

“They are enemy states.

Because what they are doing is war," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday at an education conference near Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin had previously spoken of an economic “lightning war” in view of the Western sanctions.

Peskov said the West was waging a diplomatic, economic and political war against his country.

Russia must show that it is able to protect its interests.

“But every war ends in peace.

And that peace will be such that our voice is heard where we are comfortable and safe and standing firmly on our feet.”

Ukraine-Russia-News: Putin like a general - the head of the Kremlin now apparently intervenes directly

First report:

Munich – In the Ukraine war, the heavy clashes between the Ukrainian military and Russian troops continue.

This map shows where the Ukraine war is raging.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine hit Russia hard.

So far, Russian troops have been unsuccessful in encircling the outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers while Ukrainian units are advancing in Kharkiv.

In addition, Russia loses an extremely large number of soldiers and military equipment, for example in an attempt to cross the Severskyi Donets River, which ended in a debacle.

Aerial photographs from the area showed more than 70 destroyed Russian military vehicles in almost one spot.

The great success in the Donbass expected by Moscow has not materialized so far.

Ukraine war: Putin intervenes in fighting - "Decisions like colonel or brigadier general"

A report in the British newspaper

now suggests that the cause of the Russian army's military disaster may lie squarely within the Kremlin itself.

Accordingly, the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin is personally heavily involved in the fighting and even makes tactical decisions that dictate the movement of Russian soldiers in the field, the British newspaper reported, citing anonymous Western sources.

Putin is involved in this process together with the chief of staff Valeriy Gerasimov.

"We think Putin and Gerasimov are involved in tactical decision-making at a level that we would normally expect from a colonel or brigadier general," a Western military source told

.

The Russian military does not actually operate in such a way, the newspaper wrote.

But the faltering invasion of Ukraine, for example, has forced the Russian military to send generals closer to the front line.

According to the Ukrainian military, 12 Russian generals have been killed in skirmishes so far.

In addition, Putin's intervention is not said to be particularly helpful.

Military expert Ben Barry told the

: "A head of government should have better things to do than make military decisions.

He should set the political strategy instead of getting bogged down in day-to-day business."

Vladimir Putin apparently makes tactical decisions in the Ukraine war.

© Sergey Guneev/Imago Images

War in Ukraine: Evacuation from Azovstal - Russia and Ukraine want to exchange soldiers

Meanwhile, more than 260 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, which had been under Russian siege for weeks, and taken to Russian-controlled territory.

53 seriously injured were taken to Novoazovsk and 211 other soldiers to Olenivka for treatment, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said.

Efforts to evacuate the remaining soldiers should continue, according to Ukrainian sources on Tuesday

.

Novoazovsk and Olenivka are in areas under Russian military control.

The soldiers are to be “exchanged” at a later date, as Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said in a video message.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Kyiv and Moscow have already made several prisoner exchanges.

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier on Monday announced a ceasefire in Mariupol to get injured Ukrainian soldiers out of the Azov-Stahl group's steel mill.

Moscow had named "medical facilities" in Novoazovsk as the target of the evacuation operation.