Soldiers stationed at Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant, Ukraine, have been ordered to halt the war, AFP reported. The statement came from a battalion commander who led the stranded troops.
The war in Ukraine, which began on the orders of Russian President Putin, is in its 12th week.
The eyes and ears of the world are on the Azovstal steel plant, which has been under siege for weeks. Kiev made its decision for the soldiers resisting the Russian forces.
In a last-minute development reported by AFP, Kiev ordered the soldiers to “stop fighting”.
AFP based the report on statements by Ukrainian commander Denys Prokopenko. Prokopenko made the following statements on Telegram;
‘The supreme military command gave the order to save the lives of the soldiers in our garrison and to stop defending the city.’
Prokopenko added that there was an “ongoing process” to remove the slain fighters from the facility.
The soldiers, who had been blockaded in steel mills for weeks, had become a symbol of Ukraine’s fierce resistance to the Russian invasion.
A FIRST IN WAR
It is stated that after this order given by Ukraine to its soldiers, the whole city fell into the hands of Russia.
This situation is very important for Russia, because the Russian forces have not yet captured the entire Ukrainian city in the war that started with Putin’s order.
Putin ordered Russian troops to blockade the area and instructed them not to fly a fly. The Russian leader’s move bore fruit weeks later.
Russia recently announced that soldiers released from the Azovstal Steel Plant after surrendering were housed in a former prison complex in the Donetsk region.
A recent statement by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry expressed hope for a prisoner swap “for the return of Ukrainian heroes to their homes as soon as possible,” while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not answer questions about whether Ukrainian soldiers would be considered prisoners of war or “war criminals.”
WHY MARIUPOL, THE BLOODIEST FRONT OF THE WAR, IS IMPORTANT
The city in southern Ukraine is strategically important for its land connection to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. The city, which briefly fell under the control of pro-Russian separatists in 2014, is claimed by the ‘Donetsk people’s republic’, which declared independence from Kiev.
The fall of Mariupol is seen as a turning point in the battle of Donbas. The city is also the port that controls the Sea of Azov. 30 percent of Ukraine’s foreign trade is carried out through the port in this city.
EUROPE’S LARGEST STEEL FACTORY LAST POINT OF RESISTANCE AZOVSTAL
In addition to the port in Mariupol, another strategic point is the ‘Azovstal’ iron and steel plant, where the city defenses take refuge. The factory built during the Soviet era alone met almost half of Ukraine’s needs.
Azovstal is also the only facility in the country to produce railway rails. Putin’s refusal to launch a catastrophic attack on the factory is said to be his “willingness to use the facility after the war.”
