Our bodies of some Ukrainian fighters who defended Azovstal metal plant in Mariupol handed over to Kyiv, households say.
The our bodies of some Ukrainian fighters killed defending the town of Mariupol from Russian forces at an unlimited steelworks have been handed over to Kyiv, the households of Ukraine’s Azov unit of the nationwide guard mentioned.
Ukrainian forces defending Mariupol had been holed up within the Azovstal steelworks for weeks as Russian forces tried to seize the town. The Ukrainian troopers ultimately surrendered final month and had been taken into custody by Russian forces.
There was little details about the destiny of the estimated 2,000 Azovstal defenders. Kyiv is searching for the handover of all of them in a prisoner swap, however some Russian legislators need a few of the troopers placed on trial.
It was not instantly clear what number of our bodies had arrived in Kyiv on this first such switch.
Anna Holovko, a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment, informed the Related Press information company 160 Ukrainian our bodies had been turned over by the Russians, all of which had been from the Azovstal ruins. She mentioned that not less than 52 of these our bodies are regarded as the stays of Azov Regiment troopers.
Maksym Zhorin, a former Azov Regiment chief now co-commanding a Kyiv-based navy unit, confirmed that our bodies from the metal plant had been amongst these exchanged.
“It’s vital to notice {that a} third of the our bodies [handed over] had been Azov fighters, the affiliation of the opposite fighters to totally different items is being clarified,” the households of the Azov fighters mentioned in an announcement launched late on Monday.
The AP reported that DNA testing was underneath strategy to determine the stays.
The brother of an Azov fighter lacking and feared lifeless within the steelworks mentioned not less than two vans of our bodies from Azovstal had been transferred to a navy hospital in Kyiv for identification.
Viacheslav Drofa mentioned the stays of his elder brother, Dmitry Lisen, didn’t seem like amongst these recovered up to now. He added that a few of the lifeless had been severely burned.
The mom of a soldier killed in an air strike on the plant mentioned the Azov Regiment telephoned her and mentioned her son’s physique may be amongst these transferred to Kyiv. The mom didn’t need her or her son to be recognized by identify, saying she feared that discussing the restoration course of may disrupt it.
She tearfully referred to her son as a hero. “It’s vital for me to bury him in our Ukrainian land,” she mentioned.
Russia casts the Azov Regiment, which led the defence of the steelworks at Mariupol, as a “Nazi” militia with “radical” far-right origins.
Ukraine denies that, saying the unit has been reformed and built-in into its armed forces.
