POWs ‘sure’ to face tribunal
Concern mounted Saturday, local time, over Ukrainian fighters who became prisoners at the end of Russia’s brutal three-month siege of Mariupol, as a Moscowbacked separatist leader vowed they would face tribunals.
Russia claimed full control of the Azovstal steel plant, which for weeks was the last holdout in Mariupol and a symbol of Ukrainian tenacity in the strategic port city, now in ruins with more than 20,000 residents feared dead. Its seizure delivers Russian President Vladimir Putin a badly wanted victory in the war he began in February.
As the West rallies behind Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Ukraine on an unannounced visit and was to address the country’s parliament, his office said.
Poland, which has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war, is a strong supporter of Ukraine’s desire to join the European Union. With Russia blocking Ukraine’s sea ports, Poland has become a major gateway for
Western humanitarian aid and weapons going into Ukraine and has been helping Ukraine get its grain and other agricultural products to world markets.
The Russian Defence Ministry released video of Ukrainian soldiers being detained after announcing that its forces had removed the last holdouts from the Mariupol plant’s extensive underground tunnels.
Denis Pushilin, the proKremlin head of an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, claimed that 2439 people were in custody. He said on Russian state television that the figure includes some foreign nationals, though he did not provide details.
Family members of the steel mill fighters, who came from a variety of military and law enforcement units, have pleaded for them to be given rights as prisoners of war and eventually returned to Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Saturday that Ukraine ‘‘will fight for the return’’ of every one of them.
Pushilin said the Ukrainians were sure to face a tribunal. Russian officials and state media have sought to characterise the fighters as neo-Nazis and criminals.
Among the defenders were members of the Azov Regiment, whose far-Right origins have been seized on by the Kremlin as part of its effort to cast the invasion as a battle against Nazi influence in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government has not commented on Russia’s claim of capturing Azovstal.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported Saturday that Russia destroyed a Ukrainian specialoperations base near Odesa, Ukraine’s main Black Sea port, as well as a significant cache of Western-supplied weapons in northern Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region.
There was no confirmation from the Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainian military reported heavy fighting in much of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
‘‘The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult,’’ President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.
‘‘As in previous days, the Russian army is trying to attack
Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk.’’
Sievierodonetsk is the main city under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk region, which together with the Donetsk region makes up the Donbas. Governor Serhii Haidai said the only functioning hospital in the city had just three doctors and supplies for 10 days.
Russian shelling on Saturday killed seven civilians and injured 10 more elsewhere in the region, the governor said.
Zelenskyy on Saturday emphasised that the Donbas remains part of Ukraine and his forces were fighting to liberate it.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, he pressed Western countries for multiple-launch rocket systems, which he said ‘‘just stand still’’ in other countries yet are key to Ukraine’s success.
US President Joe Biden signed off Saturday on a fresh, $40 billion (NZ$63b) infusion of aid for Ukraine, with half for military assistance.
Portugal pledged up to 250 million euros (NZ$413m), as well as continued shipments of military equipment. – AP