All those who lay down arms at Azovstal and surrender on Sunday are guaranted life, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
Earlier in the week, 1,160 Ukrainian soldiers, including 176 officers, of the 36th Marine Brigade surrendered in Mariupol. The Russian Defense Ministry said it was ready to allow all Ukrainian troops to withdraw through humanitarian corridors and promised to spare Ukrainian nationalists who agree to lay down arms. The Ukrainian side declined the offer.
Mariupol, a coastal city in the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) with a population of 450,000, went under the control of Ukrainian troops during the 2014 offensive. On March 7, a senior DPR military said that Russian and DPR forces have surrounded the city and are clearing it of Ukrainian troops, including the neo-Nazi Azov battalion.
Russia launched a military operation last month with the stated goal of putting an end to war crimes committed by Ukrainian troops against civilians during an eight-year offensive against Donbass. Follow Sputnik's live feed to find out more!
Russia Says Nationalists, Mercenaries at Azovstal Must Surrender on Sunday Morning
"Considering the catastrophic situation that has developed at the Azovstal metallurgical plant, and being guided by purely humane principles, the Russian Armed Forces propose that militants of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries stop all hostilities and lay down arms starting from 06:00 Moscow time [03:00 GMT] on April 17, 2022," Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's National Defense Control Center, said.
According to Mizintsev, the nationalists and mercenaries at Azovstal are "persistently demanding permission from the authorities in Kiev to lay down their arms and surrender. At the same time, representatives of the Ukrainian authorities categorically forbid doing this and are threatening [them] with subsequent executions."