Russia wants to prosecute Ukrainian soldiers who defended the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in Donetsk. That Ukrainian province is in the hands of pro-Russian separatists and has been recognized by Russia as an independent people’s republic. Kyiv still hopes for a POW swap.
The fate of the Azovstal soldiers has been unclear since their surrender last week. news agency Interfax writes on Monday on the basis of leader Denis Pushilin of the pro-Russian separatists in the region that they must appear before an “international tribunal” in the future.
The soldiers are said to have already been detained in Donetsk. It was not immediately clear what the Russians wanted to prosecute the soldiers for.
The Azovstal Steel Plant was the last Ukrainian military stronghold in Mariupol for quite some time. The Russians had held the rest of the southern port city for more than a month, but were unable to break the resistance in the industrial area. Therefore, the Kremlin opted for a “hermetic seal” of the area so that the soldiers would eventually starve to death.
In the end, the Ukrainian military decided to surrender. About two thousand – mostly (seriously) wounded – soldiers stayed in the factory. They were evacuated with the help of the Red Cross and the United Nations and immediately detained by the Russians.
It is not yet certain whether the soldiers will be tried. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said on Monday that he wants to continue negotiations with Ukraine “when Kyiv takes a constructive stance”. He does not want to rule out a prisoner of war exchange with the Azovstal soldiers.