Post by Admin on May 17, 2022 17:16:18 GMT
Efforts were underway Tuesday to evacuate the last of the Ukrainian forces who spent weeks holed-up inside the Azovstal steel plant in the ruined port city of Mariupol. Ukrainian officials said the fighters had "completed their mission" and there was no way the country's forces could free the plant from Russia's grasp by military means.
Russia called it a surrender, and there was no doubt that Moscow and its proxy forces in Ukraine were in full control of the strategic southern port city — even if much of it has been razed to the ground.
CBS News correspondent Debora Patta reports the fighters held out for 82 days under brutal conditions in the steelworks, becoming a collective symbol of Ukraine's resistance and Russia's merciless tactics in the war. But overnight, dozens of buses were seen leaving the plant carrying the bedraggled forces away, many in urgent need of medical care.
Last Nuremberg prosecutor: Putin "certainly" a war criminal
They were taken under escort by pro-Russian forces to territory held by those rebels, with Ukraine hoping for a prisoner exchange while rescue attempts continued for those still underground.
The Ukrainian military avoided using the term "surrender" to describe the effort to pull out of the steel plant, but Russia declared it just that.
"Over the past 24 hours, 265 militants laid down their arms and surrendered, including 51 heavily wounded," the Russian Ministry of Defense announced in a briefing on Tuesday, saying those in need of medical care were transferred to a hospital in the pro-Russian rebel-held town of Novoazovsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the evacuation to separatist-controlled territory was done to save the lives of the fighters who endured weeks of Russian assaults in the maze of underground passages below the hulking Azovstal steelworks.
"Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. It's our principle," he said. An unknown number of fighters stayed behind, but reports by local media outlets suggested more were preparing to accept evacuation into pro-Russian territory.
"The work to bring the guys home continues, and it requires delicacy and time," Zelenskyy said.
"Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, Ukraine gained critically important time to form reserves and regroup forces and receive help from partners," Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said. "They fulfilled all their tasks. But it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means."
Russia called it a surrender, and there was no doubt that Moscow and its proxy forces in Ukraine were in full control of the strategic southern port city — even if much of it has been razed to the ground.
CBS News correspondent Debora Patta reports the fighters held out for 82 days under brutal conditions in the steelworks, becoming a collective symbol of Ukraine's resistance and Russia's merciless tactics in the war. But overnight, dozens of buses were seen leaving the plant carrying the bedraggled forces away, many in urgent need of medical care.
Last Nuremberg prosecutor: Putin "certainly" a war criminal
They were taken under escort by pro-Russian forces to territory held by those rebels, with Ukraine hoping for a prisoner exchange while rescue attempts continued for those still underground.
The Ukrainian military avoided using the term "surrender" to describe the effort to pull out of the steel plant, but Russia declared it just that.
"Over the past 24 hours, 265 militants laid down their arms and surrendered, including 51 heavily wounded," the Russian Ministry of Defense announced in a briefing on Tuesday, saying those in need of medical care were transferred to a hospital in the pro-Russian rebel-held town of Novoazovsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the evacuation to separatist-controlled territory was done to save the lives of the fighters who endured weeks of Russian assaults in the maze of underground passages below the hulking Azovstal steelworks.
"Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. It's our principle," he said. An unknown number of fighters stayed behind, but reports by local media outlets suggested more were preparing to accept evacuation into pro-Russian territory.
"The work to bring the guys home continues, and it requires delicacy and time," Zelenskyy said.
"Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, Ukraine gained critically important time to form reserves and regroup forces and receive help from partners," Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said. "They fulfilled all their tasks. But it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means."