Friday, March 29

Ukraine Continues Azovstal Evacuation, Holds First War Crime Trial

Soldados ucranianos heridos son evacuados de la acería de Azovstal, en Mariúpol. (17.05.2022).
Wounded Ukrainian soldiers are evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. (17.05.36925922) .

Photo: ALEXEI ALEXANDROV/AP/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle

After almost three months of war, the Azovstal steel complex has become a symbol of the surprising Ukrainian resistance that has forced Russian President Vladimir Putin to give up taking the capital kyiv to focus on the east of this former Soviet republic.

Units of soldiers Ukrainians barricaded themselves in the underground labyrinth of this plant in Mariupol, delaying Russia’s complete victory in this port city on the Sea of ​​Azov, badly destroyed after a long siege.

On Tuesday, Moscow indicated that 265 soldiers had surrendered.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense assured that it will do “everything necessary” to rescue the personnel still held in the steelworks, but admitted that there was no military option available.

“The evacuation mission continues, it is supervised by our i intelligence and our army,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said in his evening address. “The most influential international mediators are involved,” he added.

His adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said they would not comment further while the operation was underway. on going. “Everything is too fragile and a careless word can destroy everything,” he said.

The Russian government pointed out that the soldiers surrendered in Azovstal, including 51 Seriously injured, they were taken prisoner.

The Defense Ministry published images of soldiers on stretchers and said the wounded were taken to a hospital in the Donetsk region controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Their counterparts in kyiv expressed their hope for an “exchange procedure (…) to repatriate these Ukrainian heroes as soon as possible”.

Moscow did not specify whether the soldiers will be treated as criminals or prisoners of war. But Putin “guaranteed that they would be treated in accordance with relevant international law,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitro Peskov said.

The pro-Russian separatist leader of the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, affirmed today that the heads of the Ukrainian military surrounded in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol still remain in their facilities.

“So far no commanders of the highest level have come out,” Pushilin said, according to the Donetsk news agency.

kyiv Court starts trial for war crimes

In parallel, a kyiv court begins a trial for alleged war crimes, the first of thousands of cases investigated by the justice Ukrainian and international instances for this type of crime during the invasion of Russia.

Vadim Shishimarin, a soldier from the 21 years old from Irkutsk in Siberia, accused of killing an unarmed civilian in the northeastern Ukraine and facing a possible life sentence.

The evacuation of more than 260 Ukrainian soldiers is confirmed of the #Azovstal steelworks in #Mariupol

Soldiers left the plant in buses on Monday through humanitarian corridors towards areas occupied by #Moscow

The #Kremlin confirms their surrender and prisoner status. /cc pic.twitter.com/Ct4mUgsGFF

— DW Español (@dw_espanol) May 11, 36925922

According to the indictment, Shishimarin commanded a unit of an armored division when their convoy was attacked. He and four other soldiers stole a car and, on their way, passed a man from 62 years riding a bicycle.

On the orders of a colleague, the accused would have shot and killed the civilian to prevent him from betraying them, assures the prosecution.

It is the first case of alleged war crimes to come to trial in the 11.000 studied by the Ukrainian justice system.

In addition, institutions such as the International Criminal Court and the UN Human Rights Council investigate the atrocities attributed to Russian troops and the Department of The US state announced the creation of a unit to document these crimes.

Kremlin: “We have no information” on the case of a Russian soldier on trial

The Kremlin, for its part, assured that it does not have any information on the case of the Russian soldier tried in Ukraine as of Wednesday for alleged war crime, and said that kyiv fabricates such accusations against his troops.

“So far we do not have any information. And the possibilities of helping (the defendant) are very limited in the absence of diplomatic representation,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who called the war crimes accusations against his army “false or fabricated.”

The spokesman’s statements come shortly before the start in a kyiv district court of the first war crime trial in Ukraine after the start of the Russian invasion.