KYIV, Ukraine
Russia has begun turning over the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion.
Dozens of the dead taken from
the bombed-out mill’s now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the
Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains,
according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.
The Azov Regiment was
among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for nearly
three months before surrendering in May under relentless Russian attacks from the
ground, sea and air.
It was unclear how many bodies
might remain at the plant.
Meanwhile, Russian forces
continued to fight for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city
that is key to Moscow’s goal of completing the capture of the industrial Donbas
region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
said Ukrainian forces were holding their positions in the city amid fierce
fighting in the streets as Russia tries to deploy more forces.
“But it is the 103rd day, and
the Ukrainian Donbas stands. It stands firmly,” he said in his nightly address
to the nation.
Zelenskyy also said Moscow’s
forces intend to take the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, home to more than
700,000 people, a move that could severely weaken Ukraine’s standing and allow
the Russian military to advance closer to the center of the country.
“In the Zaporizhzhia region ... there is the most threatening situation there,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian fighters’ dogged
defense of the steel mill frustrated the Kremlin’s objective of quickly
capturing Mariupol and tied down Russian forces in the strategic port city.
The defenders’ fate in Russian
hands is
shrouded in uncertainty. Zelenskyy said more than than 2,500 fighters from
the plant are being held prisoner, and Ukraine is working to win their release.
The recovery of their remains
from the Azovstal ruins has not been announced by the Ukrainian government, and
Russian officials have not commented. But relatives of soldiers killed at the
plant discussed the process with The Associated Press.
Ukraine on Saturday announced
the first officially confirmed swap of its military dead since the war began.
It said the two sides exchanged 320 bodies in all, each getting back 160 sets
of remains. The swap took place Thursday on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia
region.
Anna Holovko, a spokeswoman
for the Azov Regiment, said all 160 of the Ukrainian bodies turned over by the
Russians were from the Azovstal ruins. She said that at least 52 of those
bodies are thought to be the remains of Azov Regiment soldiers.
Maksym Zhorin, a former Azov
Regiment leader now co-commanding a Kyiv-based military unit, confirmed that
bodies from the steel plant were among those exchanged.
The brother of an Azov fighter
missing and feared dead in the steelworks told the AP that at least two trucks
of bodies from Azovstal were transferred to a military hospital in Kyiv for
identification.
Viacheslav Drofa said the
remains of his elder brother, Dmitry Lisen, did not appear to be among those
recovered so far. He added that some of the dead were severely burned.
The mother of a soldier killed
in an airstrike on the plant said the Azov Regiment telephoned her and said her
son’s body might be among those transferred to Kyiv. The mother did not want
her or her son to be identified by name, saying she feared that discussing the
recovery process might disrupt it.
She tearfully referred to her
son as a hero. “It’s important for me to bury him in our Ukrainian land,” she
said.
In other developments Monday,
Ukraine’s efforts to fight off Russia’s invasion loomed
large over D-Day
commemorations in France, where the 78th anniversary of the Normandy
invasion was marked.
“The fight in Ukraine is about
honoring these veterans of World War II,” Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of
the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer,
overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy.
He added: “It’s about
maintaining the so-called global rules-based international order that was
established by the dead who are buried here at this cemetery.”
American D-Day veteran Charles
Shay, 97, was at Omaha Beach to mark the the anniversary of the June 6, 1944,
landings and pay tribute to those who fell that day. Asked about the war raging
on the European continent, Shay said, “It is a very sad situation.”
“In 1944 I landed on these
beaches, and we thought we’d bring peace to the world. But it’s not possible,”
he added.
Meanwhile, the president of
Ukraine’s separatist Donetsk People’s Republic said that the pro-Moscow region
is putting on trial three British men alleged to have been mercenaries for
Ukraine. If convicted on the charges, including of trying to seize power, the
men could get the death penalty.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin signed a decree granting lump-sum payments of 5 million rubles ($81,000)
to families of Russian National Guard members who die in Ukraine. Guard members
have taken part in such operations as the seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant. The lump sum is roughly six times the average annual Russian
salary.
On the battlefield, Russian
warplanes fired long-range missiles to destroy a plant on the edge of the town
of Lozova in the northeastern Kharkiv region that was repairing armored
vehicles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
Russian aircraft hit 73 areas
of concentration of Ukrainian troops and equipment, while Russian artillery
struck 431 military targets, Konashenkov said. His claims could not be
independently verified.
Ukrainian forces put up
resistance in Sievierodonetsk and other areas.
“There are more of them, they
are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on this direction,”
Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian artillery fire could
be heard outside the city of Bakhmut, southwest of Sievierodonetsk.
Ukrainian tanks moved back and
forth from the front line, carefully hiding under trees after firing at Russian
positions. One of the tanks was a T-80 captured from Russian forces. Its crew
hacked bushes with hatchets and covered the vehicle and its main gun with
branches. - AP
No comments:
Post a Comment