প্রকাশ: 18/05/2022
Concerns grew on
Wednesday for the welfare of more than 250 Ukrainian fighters who surrendered
to Russian forces at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol after weeks of
desperate resistance.
The surrender brought an end to the most devastating siege
of Russia's war in Ukraine and allowed President Vladimir Putin to
claim a rare victory in his faltering campaign, which many military analysts
say has stalled.
Buses left the steelworks late on Monday in a convoy
escorted by Russian armoured vehicles. Five arrived in the Russian-held town of
Novoazovsk, where Moscow said wounded fighters would be treated.
Seven buses carrying Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal
garrison arrived at a newly reopened prison in the Russian-controlled town of
Olenivka near Donetsk, a Reuters witness said.
Russia said at least 256 Ukrainian fighters had "laid
down their arms and surrendered", including 51 severely
wounded. Ukraine said 264 soldiers, including 53 wounded, had left.
Russian defence ministry video showed fighters leaving the
plant, some carried on stretchers, others with hands up to be searched by
Russian troops.
There were some women aboard at least one of the buses in
Olenivka, Reuters video showed.
While both sides spoke of a deal under which all Ukrainian
troops would abandon the steelworks, many details were not yet public,
including how many fighters still remained inside, and whether any form of
prisoner swap had been agreed.
The Kremlin said Putin had personally guaranteed the
prisoners would be treated according to international standards, and Ukrainian
officials said they could be exchanged for Russian captives.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Kyiv
aimed to arrange a prisoner swap for the wounded once their condition
stabilised.
Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry
Polyansky said there had been no deal, tweeting: "I didn't know English
has so many ways to express a single message: the #Azovnazis have
unconditionally surrendered."
TASS news agency reported a Russian committee planned to
question the soldiers, many of them members of the Azov Battalion, as part of
an investigation into what Moscow calls "Ukrainian regime crimes".
High-profile Russian lawmakers spoke out against any
prisoner swap. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, Russia's lower
house, said: "Nazi criminals should not be exchanged."
Lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, one of Russia's negotiators in
talks with Ukraine, called the evacuated combatants "animals in human
form" and said they should be executed.
Formed in 2014 as an extreme right-wing volunteer militia to
fight Russian-backed separatists, the Azov Regiment denies being fascist or
neo-Nazi. Ukraine says it has been reformed and integrated into the
National Guard.
Natalia, the wife of a sailor among those holed up in the
plant, told Reuters she hoped "there will be an honest exchange". But
she was still worried: "What Russia is doing now is inhumane."
BATTLE FOR DONBAS
The denouement of the battle for Mariupol, which came to
symbolise Ukrainian resistance, is Russia's biggest victory since it launched
what it calls a "special military operation" to "denazify"
the country on Feb. 24.
It gives Moscow control of the Azov Sea coast and an
unbroken stretch of eastern and southern Ukraine. But the port lies in
ruins, and Ukraine believes tens of thousands of people were killed
under months of Russian bombardment.
On the diplomatic front, US President Joe Biden will host
the leaders of Sweden and Finland at the White House on Thursday to discuss
their NATO applications, the White House said. The Nordic countries are
optimistic they can overcome objections from Turkey over jointing the 30-nation
alliance.
Russia's offensive in the east, meanwhile, appeared to be
making little progress, although the Kremlin says all its objectives will be
reached.
Around a third of the Donbas was held by Russia-backed
separatists before the invasion. Moscow now controls around 90% of Luhansk region,
but it has failed to make major inroads towards the key cities of Sloviansk and
Kramatorsk in Donetsk in order to extend control over the entire Donbas.
Ukrainian forces have advanced at their fastest pace for
more than a month, driving Russian forces out of the area around
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
Ukraine says its forces had reached the Russian border,
40 km (25 miles) north of Kharkiv. They have also pushed at least as far as the
Siverskiy Donets river 40 km to the east, where they could threaten Russian
supply lines.
Putin may have to decide whether to send more troops and
hardware to replenish his weakened invasion force as an influx of Western
weapons, including scores of US and Canadian M777 howitzers that have longer
range than their Russian equivalents, bolsters Ukraine's combat power,
analysts said.
"Time is definitely working against the Russians ...
The Ukrainians are getting stronger almost every day," said Neil Melvin of
the RUSI think-tank in London.
- Reuters
প্রধান সম্পাদকঃ সৈয়দ বোরহান কবীর
ক্রিয়েটিভ মিডিয়া লিমিটেডের অঙ্গ প্রতিষ্ঠান
বার্তা এবং বাণিজ্যিক কার্যালয়ঃ ২/৩ , ব্লক - ডি , লালমাটিয়া , ঢাকা -১২০৭
নিবন্ধিত ঠিকানাঃ বাড়ি# ৪৩ (লেভেল-৫) , রোড#১৬ নতুন (পুরাতন ২৭) , ধানমন্ডি , ঢাকা- ১২০৯
ফোনঃ +৮৮-০২৯১২৩৬৭৭