Despite many Ukrainians on social media accusing Zelensky of “surrendering” over 2,000 defenders of Azovstal, these claims are baseless. Zelensky’s actions during those days were as adequate as possible. The situation had reached a deadlock, and there was simply no other way out. The Azov fighters and marines of the 36th Brigade had only two options: death or surrender.
I remind you that by early May 2022, the fighting near the metallurgical plant had almost ceased. Ukrainian troops hid in underground bunkers, occasionally making sorties to the surface. The occupiers, not particularly inspired by the prospect of fighting in the numerous plant buildings, opted for the tactic of using heavy aviation bombs. The underground bunkers of Azovstal had several levels, but they could not fully protect against the impact of three-ton bombs. On the night of April 28, one such bomb destroyed Azov’s underground hospital, resulting in an undetermined number of casualties among patients and medics.
For the final capture of the plant territory, the Russians did not rule out the use of chemical weapons. On April 11, 2022, a representative of the DPR military command, Eduard Basurin, openly spoke of such a possibility. They were deterred only by the fact that several hundred civilians were hiding in the bunker along with the defenders of Azovstal. The use of chemical weapons against civilians threatened to worsen Russia’s international isolation, so the occupiers agreed to an option where the fighters of Azovstal would supposedly be promised “evacuation” for subsequent prisoner exchange.
On May 16 and 17, Ukrainian troops surrendered, emerging from the bunker. However, just two months later, on July 29, 2022, 53 military prisoners from among the defenders of Azovstal were killed, and another 73 were injured. One of the barracks in the Olenivka camp, where about 150 prisoners had been transferred the day before, was blown up using a thermobaric flamethrower. According to one version, Russian military personnel blew up the building to cover up the facts of torture and extrajudicial executions. According to another version, the mass murder was initiated by the Wagner PMC command, who genuinely hated the Ukrainian nationalists from “Azov” and did not want them to be exchanged for prisoners.
The commander of the “Azov” regiment Denys Prokopenko, acting commander of the 36th Marine Brigade Serhiy Volynsky, and three other senior officers were separated from the rest of the military personnel upon surrender and were transported to Moscow. Until September 21, 2022, they were in the FSS’s detention center.
On September 22, as a result of a prisoner exchange, Prokopenko and the other officers ended up in Turkey. By agreement between Zelensky, Putin, and the President of Turkey, Erdogan, Russia was handed over Viktor Medvedchuk, who had been detained after attempting to flee from house arrest. Ukraine received five VIP prisoners, led by Prokopenko, and about 250 other defenders of Azovstal.
At the time of writing this book, about 1,700 Ukrainian military personnel captured in Mariupol are still in various Russian prisons. The Kremlin categorically refuses to exchange them, despite the fact that this hampers the entire exchange process. Ukraine, for its part, is not willing to continue the exchange of prisoners without including the “Azov” military personnel in the return lists.
As for Prokopenko and the other four officers, Putin agreed to exchange them for Medvedchuk on the condition that they remain in Turkey until the end of hostilities. This agreement was upheld for about a year. On July 8, 2023, after Zelensky’s visit to Turkey, the military prisoners were returned to Ukraine.
>>> 50. Autumn 2022: An Unexpected Success of the Ukrainian Army