Russian Defence Ministry claims that 959 people have left Azovstal

OLENA ROSHCHINA 

The Russian Ministry of Defence claims that almost a thousand Ukrainian fighters have left the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Source: Major General Igor Konashenkov, official representative of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, quoted by the Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti

Details: The Russian invaders are calling it a surrender, while the Ukrainian side considers it an operation to save the Mariupol garrison, hoping for an exchange of troops.

According to Konashenkov, 959 people have been "captured" since 16 May, including 80 wounded, 51 of whom were taken to Novoazovsk Hospital in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast.

694 soldiers of the Azov Regiment and other units, including 29 wounded soldiers, left the Azovstal bunkers last night, a representative of the Russian Defence Ministry said.

The Ukrainian side has not yet released any information on the departure of the Mariupol defenders, so as not to cause them harm.

Background: 

• The port city of Mariupol was besieged by Russian troops on 1 March. Since the end of April, the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol - representatives of the Azov National Guard regiment, marines, border guards, and police - have been besieged at the Azovstal steelworks. They asked the world to rescue them: the Marines requested "extraction", while the Azov regiment asked for at least the wounded soldiers to be evacuated.
• Civilians were evacuated, but Russia had for a long time been rejecting all options for evacuating the fighters, although Turkey was ready to evacuate them by sea and guarantee that they would not take part in hostilities in Ukraine for the remainder of the war.
• On 14 May, a fighter with the call sign "Police", located at the Azovstal plant, said that there were about 600 wounded soldiers and almost no medicine, water or food. The wives of the defenders of Mariupol called on the international community to demand the release of the entire garrison, not just the seriously wounded.
• On 16 May the Russians resumed their attempts to enter the plant or block the way out of the Azovstal bunkers, and also claimed that they had reached an agreement with the Ukrainian defenders on the evacuation of the wounded fighters to Russian-occupied territory.
• The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Mariupol garrison had fulfilled its combat mission and the commanders had now been ordered to save the lives of their personnel. The Ministry of Defence explained that there was no other way to save the defenders of Azovstal.
• Western media reported that at least 7 busloads of Ukrainian fighters left Azovstal under Russian control on 17 May. 256 defenders, including 51 wounded soldiers, were taken to the prison at Olenivka. The Ukrainian fighters are to be interrogated.