Moscow can then declare final victory in Mariupol, the most important city captured by the Russian army since the invasion. “The garrison in Mariupol has fulfilled its war function,” the Ukrainian army command said in a statement on Tuesday about the difficult decision to give up the last resistance in the port city. “The Mariupol defenders are the heroes of our time.”
The commander of the Azov regiment – they defended the steel factory together with Ukrainian marines despite heavy bombing – also said the battle was over. Lieutenant Colonel Denis Prokopenko argued that his unit’s mission was completed. “Absolutely safe plans and operations do not exist in war,” Prokopenko said in a statement.
President Volodimir Zelenski said he hoped the hundreds of other soldiers still in the steel mill could be quickly evacuated as well. According to Zelensky and the army command, the priority now is to get them out alive. “We hope we can save the lives of our boys,” the president told the Ukrainian people. “Ukraine needs the Ukrainian heroes alive.”
‘A difficult day’
Zelensky and top military officials avoided the word “surrender,” although Russian-backed separatists in the area on Tuesday claimed the military had surrendered. “This is a difficult day,” Zelenski said. “But this day, like any other, is focused on saving our country and our people. The work to get our boys home continues and requires caution and time.’
It is unclear how many soldiers are still in the underground corridors and rooms. Before the evacuation began Monday, their number was estimated at more than six hundred. The Red Cross and the UN are involved in the evacuation. Although some of the soldiers in Azovstal always insisted on safe conduct to Ukrainian territory or evacuation through another country, Zelensky and the army’s top decided on Monday to add to the wine.
The 264 soldiers were transferred by bus on Monday evening to an area controlled by the Russians and pro-Russian separatists. A group of 53 wounded soldiers has been admitted to a hospital in Novoazovsk, about 30 kilometers east of Mariupol. The rest are in the town of Olenivka. According to Ukrainian Defense Secretary Anna Malyar, they will be exchanged for Russian soldiers captured by Kyiv.
Goals achieved
The president and generals were initially silent after Russia announced late Monday that a humanitarian corridor had been opened to allow the evacuation of Azovstal. About a dozen buses turned up at the destroyed steel factory. Russian media subsequently reported that some two to three hundred soldiers would be evacuated.
Ukraine subsequently confirmed the evacuation. Malyar and the army chief pointed out that the soldiers had managed to prevent the steel factory from being taken by Russia by military means. “The Mariupol defenders have already achieved their goals,” said the state secretary. The army leadership emphasized that the soldiers with their long resistance managed to prevent the Russian army from deploying thousands of soldiers elsewhere.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin has assured Ukrainian military personnel will be treated according to “international standards.” The speaker of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, opposed the exchange of members of the Azov regiment for Russian prisoners of war on Tuesday. He said these soldiers, who are part of the National Guard, are “Nazi criminals.”