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In Mariupol, Ukraine, the Russian army claims to have taken full control of the Azovstal steel plant, where hundreds of people had taken refuge. It was the last emblematic bastion of the Ukrainian resistance in this port city besieged for weeks.
The Russian soldier briefly asks the prisoners for their identity. The Ukrainian soldiers, filmed by Russian television, have just surrendered. They would be the last fighters, entrenched for weeks in the underground maze of the Azvstal factory in Mariupol. The order to surrender to the 531 men came from kyiv, says their commander. These last resistance fighters all belong to the ultranationalist Azov regiment, described as Nazi by the Russian authorities.
The Russian camera then lingers for a long time on the tattooing of the soldiers, some of whom evoke Nazism. Ten years ago, the first Azov volunteers made no secret of their neo-Nazi convictions. The brigade has since been integrated into the regular Ukrainian army. On the night of Friday May 20, these soldiers were taken by bus to Russia. Their fate is uncertain. Ukraine wants an exchange of prisoners.