1,026 marines have surrendered, including 162 officers.
QUICK FACTS:
- The Russian defense ministry on Wednesday declared more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered in the besieged city of Mariupol, one of Russia’s strategic targets in the eastern Donbas region, Forbes reports.
- The ministry stated that 1,026 marines had surrendered, including 162 officers, as reported by Reuters.
- “In the town of Mariupol, near the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, as a result of successful offensives by Russian armed forces and Donetsk People’s Republic militia units, 1,026 Ukrainian soldiers of the 36th Marine Brigade voluntarily laid down arms and surrendered,” the ministry said in a statement.
- If the Russians take the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they would be in full control of Mariupol, Ukraine’s main Sea of Azov port, allowing Russia to reinforce a land corridor between separatist-held eastern areas and the Crimea region that it seized and annexed in 2014.
- Mariupol has been surrounded and bombarded by Russian troops for weeks, amounting to some of the most violent fighting of the war.
- Mariupol would be the first major city to fall since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24.
UKRAINE FIGHTING TO THE END:
- The 36th Marine Brigade said on Monday it was preparing for a final battle in Mariupol that would end in death or capture as its troops had run out of ammunition.
- Thousands of people have reportedly been killed in Mariupol, while Russia has been massing thousands of troops in the area for a new assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
- The besieged city’s mayor said on Monday that over 10,000 civilians have been killed in the city and the real toll could be double that number, Forbes notes.
BACKGROUND:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered to swap recently captured pro-Russian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk for Ukrainians in captivity, but it’s unclear if Zelensky’s offer pertains to the Ukrainian soldiers captured in Mariupol, according to Forbes.
