More than a thousand fighters who surrendered after the fall of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for investigation, according to state media.
For the Ukrainians are national heroes. The Marines, border guards and Azov fighters who held the Russian advance for more than eighty days, gaining valuable time for Ukraine to defend itself.
But in Russia they look very different, especially members of the Azov Battalion, a unit that previously had connections with the far right.
After their capture, there were calls from Russian politicians to treat them not as prisoners of war, but as terrorists and war criminals.
It is feared that his transfer for “investigation” could be the beginning of this process and the end of Ukrainian hopes of being returned through prisoner exchanges.
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine managed to carry out an exchange of deaths, including assassinations defending Mariupol. Each side delivered 160 bodies, a rare moment of truce in this bloodiest conflict.