POWs’ treatment fueling concern
Separatist leader backed by Moscow promises tribunals
POKROVSK, Ukraine — Concern mounted Saturday over Ukrainian fighters who became prisoners at the end of Russia’s brutal threemonth siege in Mariupol, as a Moscow-backed separatist leader vowed tribunals.
Russia claimed 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.
The Russian Defense Ministry released video of Ukrainian soldiers being detained after announcing its forces had removed the last holdouts from the plant’s miles of underground tunnels. Denis Pushilin, the pro-Kremlin head of an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, claimed 2,439 people were in custody. He said on Russian state TV that the figure includes foreign nationals, though he did not provide further details.
Family members of the steel mill fighters, who authorities say came from military and law enforcement units, have pleaded for them to be given rights as prisoners of war and eventually returned to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Saturday that authorities “will fight for the return of every soldier” captured from Azovstal steelworks.
Convoys of buses, guarded by Russian armored vehicles, left the plant Friday. At least some Ukrainians were taken to a former penal colony, while Russian authorities said others were hospitalized.
Pushilin said the Ukrainians were sure to face tribunals. Russian officials and state media have sought to characterize the fighters as neo-Nazis and criminals.
“I believe that justice must be restored. There is a request for this from ordinary people, society, and, probably, the sane part of the world community,” Russian state news agency Tass quoted Pushilin as saying.
Also on Saturday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported that Russia destroyed a Ukrainian special-operations base in the Black Sea region of Odesa as well as a significant cache of Western-supplied weapons in northern Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region. There was no confirmation from the Ukrainian side.
In its morning operational report, the Ukrainian military general staff reported heavy fighting in much of eastern Ukraine, including the areas of Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
The Ukrainian military said Russia is expected to relaunch an offensive on the strategically important city of Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region. The city is critical to Russia’s objective of capturing all of eastern Ukraine and saw fierce fighting last month after Moscow’s troops backed off from Kyiv.
In the Donetsk region, Russian shelling on Saturday killed seven civilians and injured 10 more, the regional governor said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday dismissed the idea of launching a counterattack into Russian territory but emphasized the Donbas region remains sovereign to Ukraine.
Speaking at a joint media conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Zelenskyy said his forces were fighting to “liberate our territory” and the price of “tens or hundreds of thousands of lives” was too high to surrender it.
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.
While in South Korea, U.S. President Joe Biden signed off Saturday on $40 billion of aid for Ukraine, with half of the money earmarked for military assistance.
Portugal pledged up to $264 million, as well as continued shipments of military equipment.
Zelenskyy reiterated his intention to apply for European Union membership and accused Russia of blockading agricultural exports from Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday released video of Russian troops taking into custody Serhiy Volynskyy, the commander of the Ukrainian Navy’s 36th Special Marine Brigade, which was one of the main forces defending the steel plant. The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify the date, location and conditions of the video.
With Russia controlling the city, Ukrainian authorities are likely to face delays in documenting evidence of alleged Russian atrocities in Mariupol.
The Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol warned Saturday the city is facing a health and sanitation “catastrophe” from mass burials in shallow pits across the ruined city as well as the breakdown of sewage systems. Vadim Boychenko said summer rains threaten to contaminate water sources as he pressed Russian forces to allow residents to safely leave the city.