Russia has claimed to have taken prisoner nearly 2,500 Ukrainian fighters from the besieged Mariupol steel plant, and concerns are growing over their fate after a Moscow-backed separatist leader vowed they would face tribunals.
On Saturday, Russia declared its full control of the Azovstal steel plant — which for weeks was the last hold out in Mariupol and a symbol of Ukrainian tenacity in the strategic port city — now in ruins with more than 20,000 residents feared dead.
The seizure gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a badly wanted victory in the war he began nearly three months ago.
After announcing that its forces had removed the last hold outs from the Mariupol plant’s extensive underground tunnels, the Russian Defence Ministry released video of Ukrainian soldiers being detained.
It said a total of 2,439 had surrendered.
Russian officials and state media have sought to characterise the fighters as neo-Nazis and criminals.
Family members of the fighters, who came from a variety of military and law enforcement units, have pleaded for them to be given rights as prisoners of war and eventually returned to Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday that Ukraine would "fight for the return" of every one of them.
Denis Pushilin — the pro-Kremlin head of an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists — said the captured fighters included some foreign nationals, although he did not provide details.
He said they were sure to face a tribunal.
"I believe that justice must be restored,” Russian state news agency Tass quoted Mr Pushilin as saying.
Among the defenders were members of the Azov Regiment, whose far-right origins have been seized on by the Kremlin as part of its effort to cast the invasion as a battle against alleged Nazi influence in Ukraine.
A prominent member of Russia’s parliament, Leonid Slutsky, said Moscow was studying the possibility of exchanging the Azovstal fighters for Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy Ukrainian with close ties to Mr Putin who faces criminal charges in Ukraine, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Mr Slutsky later walked back those remarks, saying he agreed with Mr Pushilin that their fate should be decided by a tribunal.
The Ukrainian government has not commented on Russia's claim of capturing Azovstal.
Mariupol facing health and sanitation 'catastrophe'
An estimated 100,000 of the 450,000 people who resided in Mariupol before the war remain. Many, trapped by Russia’s siege, were left without food, water and electricity.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol warned the city has been facing a health and sanitation "catastrophe" from mass burials in shallow pits across the ruined city as well as the breakdown of sewage systems.
Vadim Boychenko said summer rains threatened to contaminate water sources as he pressed Russian forces to allow residents to safely leave the city.
“In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe created by the [Russian] occupiers and collaborators, the city is on the verge of an outbreak of infectious diseases," he said on the messaging app Telegram.
With Russia controlling the city, Ukrainian authorities are likely to face delays in documenting evidence of alleged Russian atrocities in Mariupol, including the bombings of a maternity hospital and a theatre where hundreds of civilians had taken cover.
Satellite images in April showed what appeared to be mass graves just outside Mariupol, where local officials accused Russia of concealing the slaughter by burying up to 9,000 civilians.
Zelenskyy promises reciprocal rights for Poles in Ukraine
Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Ukraine on an unannounced visit and was to address the country's parliament on Sunday, his office said.
During the visit, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Polish citizens in Ukraine would be granted the same rights that Ukrainian refugees in Poland are currently receiving.
Poland has granted the right to live, work and claim social security payments to more than three million Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier on Sunday, a Ukrainian ruling party MP said Mr Zelenskyy had announced the imminent tabling of a parliamentary bill to give Polish citizens "special legal status" in Ukraine.
Poland — which has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war — is a strong supporter of Ukraine's desire to join the European Union.
With Russia blocking Ukraine's sea ports, Poland has become a major gateway for Western humanitarian aid and weapons going into Ukraine and has been helping Ukraine get its grain and other agricultural products to world markets.
ABC/wires
