over 260 ukrainian soldiers have
surrendered they'd been holed up in a
steel works in the southern city of
mariopol for weeks it ends the longest
siege of the war so far and puts russia
in full control of the key city
russia's already taken hundreds of the
fighters some severely wounded to
territory held by its forces the kremlin
says they'll be treated in accordance
with international agreements
the russian defense ministry says these
pictures show mariupol fighters
undergoing inspection before being
evacuated
dozens of wounded troops have been taken
from mariupol to hospital in the
russian-controlled town of novosovsk in
the far east
some 200 others were transferred north
to olenika in russian-backed separatist
territory
several hundred ukrainian soldiers could
still be inside the azerb style steel
plant
keeve says it wants to get them out
alive
we hope to save the lives of our boys
among them are heavily wounded they are
being treated
i want to underline ukraine needs its
ukrainian heroes alive
this is our principles
the work continues to bring our boys
home and it requires delicacy and time
in kiev many ukrainians are skeptical
about russia's pledge to treat ukrainian
soldiers in line with international
norms
nothing good will come of it
we don't know how they will be treated
actually we do know
what we have already seen in butcher a
pin and in other towns
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it probably isn't very good
but if there's no other way the soldiers
can be saved later
russian-backed separatists have released
this video which they say shows them
patrolling the azeve style steel works
on tuesday
it like the rest of mariupol is largely
in ruins
the city's loss is a major symbolic blow
for ukraine
and one that came at a heavy price for
both sides
in kiev for us i asked her whether
ukraine is expecting to release russian
prisoners as part of the deal
what we know at this point is that
actually ukraine is trying to get more
more uh soldiers out of the azov style
steel plant there's no information when
that a prisoner swap is going to take
place in fact people here in ukraine are
wondering whether it's going to take
place at all if they listen to the
debate going on there in russia some
lawmakers basically are calling for uh
these uh
evacuated as of style uh soldiers from
the as of regiment that they have to be
brought to justice basically that they
do not quote deserve to live also the
justice ministry in russia basically
calls on the supreme court right now to
uh declare that the azov regiment is a
terrorist organization as a result
clearly people here in ukraine ordering
people are quite skeptical that there's
going to be a prisoner swap and they're
actually quite worried when it comes to
the safety of those who are already out
of the other style steel plant what is
really their fate now we have to zoom in
a little bit on the history of the azov
regiment because part of the truth is
also that when this military unit
started as a volunteer militia eight
years ago
the leader at that time was harboring
quite radical views but president
zielinski says and kept saying when he
was asked about the as of regiment and
their meaning today he said that they've
been reformed they are no longer radical
in fact they should be viewed as heroes
who are the last defenders of mario paul
for more than 80 days basically are
trying to win time for for ukrainian
forces to advance on other parts in
other parts of the country but it
remains a controversial unit nonetheless
and the question is whether that
controversy that that russia took as a
pretext to invade ukraine what that's
going to mean in terms of whether the
europeans ukrainian soldiers are going
to stay alive or not we do not know
and funny what's happening to those
soldiers who weren't able to leave the
steel plant at all
well the kremlin basically says that
putin guarantees that everyone who
surrenders is going to be treated
according to international law
but what about those who did not
surrender yet that's exactly what also
the sister of one of the soldiers is
wondering about today as she does not
know about the fate of her brother 26
year old young man who has been
basically a lawyer before joining the
azov regiment because he's a patriot
that's what his sister says but what's
going to happen to him now is he going
to make it out of there alive let's have
a look at the report
for natalya the war in ukraine has been
a time of intense worry and reflection
she's thinking a lot about her younger
brother these days
this is my brother artem at school when
he was eight or nine
natalia recalls a very normal childhood
growing up in miko live in southern
ukraine
i always considered artem to be a
creative person and that he would go
down a more creative path and never
thought he'd become a soldier
but when the war in dumbass began in
2014 natalya says artem changed
vince
he knew that sooner or later the
aggressor will bring war to our country
and he knew that he needed to prepare
artemis 26 joined the other regiment a
few years ago it was formed as a
volunteer militia group and later became
part of the national guard
he still hold up here in the azov style
steel plant the last holdout of
ukraine's forces in the port city of
mario pol
the regiment released these pictures
displaying the horrible conditions some
of their fighters are in
putin accuses the unit of being nazis
he's justified his invasion by claiming
that ukraine needs in his words the
nazifying which has drawn a backlash
globally
here in keith the unit is seen as heroes
billboards have sprung up supporting the
soldiers
i am expressing huge gratitude for them
for standing for us for our ukraine
for putin as for every russian every
ukrainian is radical but we only want to
live on our own and we strive to speak
our own language and every azov soldier
is a ukrainian
researchers right-wing groups he says
it's correct that the founders of azov
harbored neo-nazi views but insists
that's changed now
all those guys who were interested in
politics more than in military action
they gone from
the battalion and regiment after a first
several months of its existing in 2014.
natalya doesn't want to get into azov's
controversial past she's more worried
for her brother artem
know what on pissau here he was texting
me that he's alive
and that's it he writes very short
messages unfortunately
holding on to signs of life and hoping
her brother will return alive
funny since you've filmed with natalya
have you had an update from her
she's basically saying that she's
appealing to the pope
to help her brother being released safe
and sound from the as of star steel plan
in fact she was suggesting would have
been much better if turkey would have
extracted the soldiers and these
soldiers would go to turkey as long as
the war rages on but clearly this is not
the playbook that's currently unfolding
here as russia and ukraine agreed for
this uh on this prisoner swap only
nobody knows whether that's actually
going to take place
okay time will say funny our
correspondent in ukraine in the capital
kiev thank you very much for the update