Russia Finally Captures Mariupol... '2,429' Surrendered

Russia attacks Mariupol for three months... Zelensky "Allow surrender"
Mariupol captured... Major Ukrainian port cities largely lost

Ukrainian soldiers surrendering as they exit the steel plant in Mariupol. Photo by AFP, Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Se-eun] The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the last Ukrainian defenders resisting at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, southern Ukraine, have all surrendered.

According to AP News and others on the 20th (local time), with the surrender of the last remaining 531 defenders on the same day, a total of 2,439 Azov and Ukrainian troops have surrendered to Russia since the 16th.

Konashchenko, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, said, "The underground facilities of the steel plant where the resistance forces were hiding have come completely under Russian military control."

The surrendered personnel were taken as prisoners and moved to the pro-Russian region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, and some were confirmed to have been transported to hospitals.

The commander of the Azov Regiment, who led the defense of Azovstal, was loaded onto an armored vehicle and taken to an undisclosed location.

Russia has stated that it will investigate and punish some of the Ukrainian defenders who surrendered at Azovstal as war criminals.

Furthermore, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a video showing Azovstal soldiers, disarmed, coming out of underground tunnels, identifying themselves, and undergoing body searches. However, the authenticity of the video cannot be verified.

With Russia's continuous assault on Mariupol since February, Ukraine has lost many of its major port cities.

Meanwhile, Mariupol is a city located at the southernmost part of Donetsk Province, Ukraine, serving as a strategic point connecting the conflict zone of Donbas and the Crimea (Krym) Peninsula, which has already been annexed by Russia. Therefore, it has been a major target of the Russian military.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky allowed the surrender of the Azovstal soldiers.