Surrendered soldiers of the Ukrainian army. File photoMOSCOW, April 13More than a thousand Ukrainian marines surrendered in Mariupol, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said.
"More than a thousand Ukrainian Marines surrendered today in Mariupol. Among them, hundreds of wounded. This is the right choice", he wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to him, Ukrainian groups are breaking up one after another, they don’t know what to do with the wounded, they don’t understand where to go and what to do next, “after all, resistance is useless, and there are practically no combat forces left.” He added that only separate small groups are operating, which «for some reason are afraid to go out with a white flag to the Russian troops.» tragedy,” Kadyrov added. «Now there are about 200 injured who cannot receive medical care. Kadyrov stressed that it would be better for them to end the confrontation and return home.
"I appeal to those who are still holed up in the basements and tunnels of the plant: you know that we treat prisoners like human beings. Come out! Think about your own and other families, as more than a thousand marines did today", Kadyrov said.
At the time of the proclamation of the DPR in 2014, Mariupol, with a population of about 450 thousand people, was the second largest city in the republic after Donetsk. However, in June of that year, the Ukrainian security forces regained control of Mariupol, and its eastern suburbs became one of the hottest places of conflict in Ukraine. Since the beginning of March, the city has been surrounded. Currently, the allied forces of the DPR and Russia are fighting for the final liberation of the city. Among other Ukrainian units in Mariupol is the nationalist regiment Azov, against whose fighters a criminal case has been initiated in Russia. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.