Russia announced on Thursday that 1,730 Ukrainian soldiers had left Azovstal, this vast steel site that has become the last bastion of the defenders of the port city of Mariupol.
Russian media showed images of men, some on crutches, emerging after a long battle that has become a global symbol of resistance to the Russian invasion, and for Ukraine a symbol of heroism.
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These soldiers, including 80 wounded, have been out since Monday and "
have become prisoners
", said the Russian Ministry of Defense.
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The battle of Mariupol ends for the “heroes” of Azovstal
They remained entrenched for several weeks in the maze of underground galleries dug during the Soviet era under the gigantic steelworks.
Pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Pushilin said on Wednesday that the commanders had not yet surrendered.
According to him, there were also "
more than 2000 people"
in the factory.
The fate of these captives, held according to Moscow in a former camp near Donetsk, is not settled.
Ukraine wants to organize an exchange of prisoners of war.
But the Russian authorities have repeatedly indicated that they consider at least some of them, not as soldiers, but as neo-Nazis.
Several deputies have mentioned the tabling of a law so that they are treated as criminals, a radical position that the experts do not necessarily take seriously.
In the end, only Vladimir Putin will decide, believe most specialists.
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The war in Ukraine gives weight to Eastern Europe
In this context, the outcome of the first war crime trial on Ukrainian soil, that of a Russian soldier accused of having killed a civilian, which ended Thursday in kyiv, will weigh heavily.
After a first day of debates, Vadim Chichimarine, 21, pleaded guilty.
On Thursday, he apologized to the widow of the 62-year-old man killed in northeastern Ukraine on February 28 as he pushed his bicycle while on the phone.
“I know you won't be able to forgive me, but I beg your pardon
,” said the noncommissioned officer.
“But why did you come here?
To free us from what?
What had my husband done to you?”
, the wife annoyed.
The Ukrainian prosecutor's office was, unsurprisingly, extremely severe: he demanded life imprisonment, the maximum sentence.
