Final Mariupol defenders signal end to campaign at Azovstal
He argued that the main priorities of his fighters had been the treatment of “civilians, the wounded and the killed,” and suggested that most of those conditions had been met, with civilians and the heavily injured evacuated and then “exchanged and delivered to territory controlled by Ukraine.”
“As for the killed heroes, the process is underway and I hope that in the near future their relatives and all Ukraine will be able to bury their soldiers with honors,” Prokopenko said.
It is not clear if all the fighters remaining at the Azovstal steel plant will now leave and lay down their arms. As recently as Thursday, Svyatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, posted a Telegram video that declared in its caption there would be no surrender from the troops still in Mariupol.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday that 1,900 Ukrainian fighters had already left the Azovstal steel plant, the last holdout of resistance in a city that has faced an extensive and brutal siege. Ukrainian officials said earlier this week that about 250 had left, but have not provided further numbers. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that its team had logged the personal details of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war evacuated from the plant.