The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Steel plant heroes leave as siege nearing its end
Hundreds of Ukrainian fighters, including wounded men carried out on stretchers, left the vast steel plant in Mariupol where they mounted a dogged last stand and turned themselves over to Russian hands, signalling the beginning of the end of a siege that became a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance to Moscow’s invasion.
Russia yesterday called the operation a mass surrender.
The Ukrainians avoided using that word but said the garrison had completed its mission, and that they were working to pull out the fighters that remain.
On Monday, more than 260 fighters left the Azovstal plant, their last redoubt in Mariupol and were transported to two towns controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, officials on both sides said.
Other fighters, their precise numbers unknown, remain inside the ruins of the fortified mill that sprawls over four square miles in the otherwise Russian-held city.
Azovstal’s fall would mark the complete capture of Mariupol, a significant milestone in one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
It would give Russia its biggest victory yet after multiple setbacks, both military and diplomatic.
Its troops have suffered costly losses, and President Vladimir Putin is increasingly isolated internationally, with Finland and Sweden announcing in recent days that they intend to join Nato, a major blow to the Russian leader.
Wrapping up Mariupol’s capture would give Russia an unbroken land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and also deprives Ukraine of a vital port.
It could also free up Russian forces for fighting elsewhere in the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine.
But Ukraine sought to turn the evacuation into a symbol for its side, too, highlighting the role that the Azovstal fighters played in boosting Ukrainian morale and tying up Russian forces who could not be deployed elsewhere.
“Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in announcing that troops had begun leaving the relentlessly bombarded mill and its warren of tunnels and bunkers.
“The work continues to bring the guys home,” he said.
It is not clear what will happen to the fighters – and a Russian official cast doubt over whether Moscow would agree to hand over all of the men in a prisoner of war exchange.
Ukraine deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said 264 fighters were evacuated from the plant, including 53 “heavily wounded” brought to a medical facility.
Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov gave slightly different numbers: 265 evacuees, 51 of them seriously wounded.
A full negotiated withdrawal could save lives on the Russian side, too, sparing Russian-backed troops from what almost certainly would be a bloody and difficult battle to wrest the labyrinth-like plant from Ukrainian control.
After Russia’s failure in the initial stages of the February 24 invasion to take the capital, Kyiv, the focus of the fighting has shifted to the Donbas but this also has turned into a slog.
In another setback for Moscow, Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde signed the formal request to join Nato that will now be sent to the alliance’s secretarygeneral, Jens Stoltenberg.
Sweden’s move follows a similar decision by neighbouring Finland, historic shifts for the countries,.
US President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and President Sauli Niinisto of Finland at the White House tomorrow to discuss the Nato applications.