Underway

 source: AFP in Radio-Canada

translation: GoogleTransalte/doxa-louise

959 Ukrainian servicemen from Azovstal have surrendered since Monday, Russia says

Two men and a woman in battle dress on a bus.

The surrendered Azovstal fighters were transported by bus. They stopped in a town further north called Olenikva, but their final destination is unknown.

PHOTO: REUTERS / ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that 959 Ukrainian soldiers, from the Azovstal steel site in Mariupol, have surrendered since Monday.

In the past 24 hours, 694 fighters, including 29 wounded, have surrendered. Since May 16, 959 fighters, including 80 wounded, have surrendered, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the same source, 51 of them were hospitalized in Novoazovsk, a locality under the control of the Russians and their separatist allies.

The Ministry gave no indication of what fate it reserved for these prisoners, while the Russian authorities have repeatedly indicated that they do not consider at least some of them soldiers, but  neo-Nazi assailants.

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet expressed as to whether they want to organize an exchange of prisoners of war.

These Ukrainian soldiers were entrenched in the underground galleries of the huge Azovstal steelworks, becoming an international symbol of resistance to the Russian offensive launched on February 24.

The strategic port of Mariupol, where the industrial site is located, has been completely ravaged by the fighting.