Russia uses Mariupol troop surrender to push narrative of terrorist purge

KYIV • Russia seized on the mass surrender of Ukrainian troops at a Mariupol steel plant as a propaganda gift, moving to falsely label them as terrorists and create a parallel narrative to Ukraine's portrayal of Russian soldiers as heinous war criminals.

The mass surrender on Wednesday, which ended the longest battle of the three-month-old war, was depicted by the Russians as a glorious turning point in a conflict that Western military analysts and rights groups have described as disastrous for the Kremlin and its forces, which have bombed Ukraine indiscriminately and been accused of other atrocities.

Images of the surrendering Ukrainians were publicised by the Russians just as a Russian soldier pleaded guilty in a Ukrainian courtroom to fatally shooting an unarmed civilian in a widely followed case.

Ukraine had initially described the mass surrender of the soldiers at Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant, which its military ordered on Monday night, as the only alternative to their near-certain death against hopeless odds, and as a prelude to a prisoner exchange.

But there was no talk from Moscow of swopping captives, and by Wednesday it was clear that the Kremlin intended to use the prisoners for other purposes.

Russian commentators celebrated the fall of the steel plant and, in particular, the capture of members of the Azov battalion, a Ukrainian regiment with roots as a far-right group, which President Vladimir Putin has exploited to fictitiously portray the invasion as a battle to rid Ukraine of Nazis.

The Russian Supreme Court said it would hold a hearing next week on whether to declare the Azov group a "terrorist organisation", which could give Moscow cover to deprive the prisoners of rights.

Russia on Wednesday said that 959 soldiers in the plant had surrendered, about 800 of them from the Azov battalion.

The number of soldiers who surrendered has since ballooned to 1,730, according to Moscow yesterday, claiming a surrender on a far bigger scale than Kyiv has acknowledged since ordering its garrison to stand down.

The leader of Russian-backed separatists in control of the area said nearly half of the fighters remained inside the steelworks, where underground bunkers and tunnels had protected them from weeks of Russian bombardment.

"More than half have already left - more than half have laid down their arms," Mr Denis Pushilin told the Solovyov Live Internet television channel.

"Let them surrender, let them live, let them honestly face the charges for all their crimes."

The wounded had been given medical treatment while those who were fit had been taken to a penal colony and were being treated well, he said.

Ukrainian officials say they cannot comment publicly on the fate of the fighters, as negotiations are under way behind the scenes to rescue them.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the regional governor of the Kursk border region accused Ukrainian forces of shelling a border village, killing at least one civilian.

Both sides have accused each other of cross-border shelling for weeks.

NYTIMES, REUTERS