Ukraine war: Russia says more than 1,000 Ukraine marines surrender in Mariupol, Ukraine did not confirm claim
- If true it would be the first major city to fall to Russian forces since they invaded on February 24, but Ukraine says it has no information on such a surrender
- Meanwhile, a Ukrainian report says 720 bodies had been found in the region around the capital region of Kyiv, with more than 200 people missing
More than a thousand Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday of Moscow’s main target in the eastern Donbas region which it has yet to bring under its control.
If the Russians seize the Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, they would be in full control of Mariupol, the linchpin between Russian-held areas to the west and east providing a land corridor for troops and supplies.
It would be the first major city to fall to Russian forces since they invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Ukraine’s general staff said that Russian forces were proceeding with attacks on Azovstal and the port. Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender.
Thousands are believed to have been killed under a near-seven week siege of Mariupol and Russia has been massing thousands of troops in the area for a new assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine says tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped inside that city with no way to bring in food or water, and accuses Russia of blocking aid convoys.
Russia’s defence ministry said that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade surrendered.
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Mariupol destruction visible from the air as Ukraine and Russia continue to fight over port city
Russian television showed pictures of what it said were marines giving themselves up at Illich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol on Tuesday, many of them wounded.
It showed what it said were Ukrainian soldiers being marched down a road with their hands in the air. One of the soldiers was shown holding a Ukrainian passport.
“Ukraine is a crime scene,” the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor says on a visit to the town of Bucha west of Kyiv, one of several towns where Russia is accused of massacring civilians.
Prosecutor Karim Khan says there are “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed”. The ICC investigates allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.
Ukrainian authorities have been urging people to flee west in advance of the expected Russian offensive but on Wednesday, all humanitarian corridors were halted, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
“The situation along the routes is too dangerous,” Vereshchuk said, claiming Russian forces around Zaporizhzhia in the south were blocking buses transporting the evacuated, while shooting at fleeing civilians in Luhansk.
Many towns Russia has retreated from in northern Ukraine were littered with the bodies of civilians killed in what Kyiv says was a campaign of murder, torture and rape.
Interfax Ukraine news agency on Wednesday quoted the Kyiv district police chief saying 720 bodies had been found in the region around the capital, with more than 200 people missing.
The General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian forces were maintaining attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv region in the northeast and the Zaporizhzhia region in central Ukraine.
At least seven people were killed and 22 wounded in Kharkiv over the past 24 hours, Governor Oleh Synegubov said. A 2-year-old boy was among those killed in the 53 artillery or rocket strikes Russian forces had carried out in the region, he said in an online post.
Reuters could not independently verify the information.
Russia denies targeting civilians. Putin on Tuesday used his first public comments on the conflict in more than a week to say Russia would “rhythmically and calmly” continue its operation, and expressed confidence his goals would be achieved.
Zelensky mocked Putin in an early morning address: “How could a plan that provides for the death of tens of thousands of their own soldiers in a little more than a month of war come about?”
The assault on the industrial heartland of Donbas sets the stage for a protracted battle that is certain to inflict heavy losses on both sides and will ultimately define the course of the war, analysts said.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said there was a high risk of Russia using chemical weapons, echoing earlier warnings by Zelensky.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
