Nearly 1,000 Mariupol fighters have surrendered: Moscow

KYIV • Russia said yesterday that nearly 1,000 Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol had surrendered to Russian forces, though their fate remained uncertain, with Ukraine promising their eventual swop in a prisoner exchange amid calls in Moscow to have them tried in court.

The surrender of some of Ukraine's most die-hard fighters - who held out beneath the sprawling steel factory for weeks under heavy bombardment - in effect ended the longest and most devastating battle of the war so far.

It also offered Russia an opportunity to present a victory at a time when some pro-Russian commentators have begun to voice frustration over the army's miscalculations and slow progress in the war.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that 694 members of the Ukrainian army and the Azov Battalion, which belongs to the country's national guard, had surrendered over the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of surrendered fighters to 959.

There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian government.

Ukraine's general staff said earlier that its soldiers had been transported to two Ukrainian towns that are under Russian control. The Russian statement also offered no clarity over what will happen next.

A Russian soldier accused of war crimes in Ukraine pleaded guilty yesterday to killing an elderly unarmed civilian. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian tank commander, entered his plea in a Kyiv district court hearing its first war crimes trial against a Russian soldier in the Ukraine invasion.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron told his Ukrainian counterpart that French arms deliveries to Ukraine would intensify in the coming days and said France was ready to respond to additional demands for help, the Elysee said.

NYTIMES, REUTERS