Swap’s no sure thing: Kremlin

Russia on Wednesday said 700 more Ukrainian fighters had laid down their arms and faced an uncertain fate, as Moscow signaled that there’s no guarantee of a prisoner swap.

The Kremlin said nearly 1,000 fighters had surrendered from the Azovstal steel plant, the last holdout in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Though it’s unclear how many remained in the plant, the leader of pro-Russian separatists in control of the area, Denis Pushilin, said the main commanders of the Ukrainian forces had yet to surrender.

Ukrainian officials declined to give details on how many were inside or what might become of them.

“Unfortunately, the subject is very sensitive and there is a very fragile set of talks going on today, therefore I cannot say anything more,” said Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko.

He said President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Red Cross and the United Nations were involved in talks but provided no details. Kyiv has spoken of arranging a prisoner swap, but Moscow said no such arrangement has been made for the fighters.

The Kremlin has said it intends to interrogate the Ukrainian troops in an effort to “identify the nationalists,” and seek war crimes prosecutions. Russia’s top prosecutor has asked Russia’s top court to designate the Ukrainian Azov Regiment — the primary unit defending Mariupol, which has its roots in a far-right militia — as a terrorist organizaparliament tion.

The Russian was scheduled to vote Wednesday on a measure that would have blocked any prisoner exAzov changes for Regiment troops, but the vote was not called.