Ukraine’s Defence Ministry on Azovstal defenders: information available but classified

Valentyna Romanenko – Monday, 30 May 2022, 17:15

The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has information on Ukrainian soldiers who defended Azovstal. Currently, it remains classified in order to protect the negotiation process.

Source: Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defence, on the 24/7 national newscast

Details: A reporter asked Maliar about the Ukrainian soldiers who defended Azovstal and are currently held in the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine. In particular, she asked whether prisoner exchange lists have been agreed internally and with Russia.

Quote from Maliar: "We do have all the information, but currently it remains classified. This is due not only to the negotiation process itself, but also to the safety of those people.

Obviously, it’s their personal data, and we have this information – but it’s not public."

Background:

• The city of Mariupol has been under the Russian siege since 1 March. Ukrainian troops defending Mariupol, including the Azov Regiment of the National Guard, Marines, border guards, and police officers, have retreated to Azovstal steel works, where they had been besieged since late April.
• Civilians were evacuated from Azovstal in early May. On 16 May, Russia claimed that it had reached an agreement with the Ukrainian troops defending Azovstal concerning the evacuation of the wounded Ukrainian soldiers to Russian-held territories of Ukraine. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the soldiers of the Mariupol garrison have completed their combat mission, and unit commanders had been ordered to save the lives of military personnel.
• On 20 May, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that all Ukrainian soldiers have left Azovstal; it claimed that a total of 2,439 soldiers had left Azovstal bunkers and that these soldiers are now considered Russian prisoners of war.
• Denys Prokopenko, Commander of the Azov Regiment, said that Ukrainian soldiers who defended Azovstal and suffered severe wounds have to be returned to Ukraine via a prisoner exchange. He said that he hoped the relatives of those soldiers who were killed would soon be able to bury them.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Mariupol defenders must be freed in accordance with prisoner exchange procedures and returned to Ukraine. Russia has not ruled out a prisoner exchange, though some of the Russian occupiers are calling for Ukrainian soldiers to be tried under a tribunal.