On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned from Turkey five former leaders of Ukraine’s military in Mariupol, a highly symbolic success that Russia said breached a prisoner swap arrangement negotiated last year.
Russia condemned the leak immediately. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said Ankara had committed to keep the soldiers in Turkey under the swap deal and that Moscow had not been told.
President Zelenskyy also paid a visit to Snake Island, a Black Sea island that Russian soldiers seized on the day of the invasion and subsequently abandoned.
After spearheading a hard three-month defence of Mariupol from the Azovstal steel factory last year, the five commanders were hailed as heroes in Ukraine.
“We are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for talks in Istanbul on Friday.
Thousands of civilians were killed in Mariupol when Russian forces laid the city to waste in the first months of the war. The Ukrainian defenders held out in tunnels and bunkers under the Azovstal plant, until finally ordered by Kyiv to surrender in May last year.
Moscow freed some of them in September in a prisoner swap brokered by Ankara, under terms that required the commanders to remain in Turkey until the end of the war.
Mr Peskov told Russia’s RIA news agency: “No one informed us about this. According to the agreements, these ringleaders were to remain on the territory of Turkey until the end of the conflict.”
Mr Peskov said the release was a result of heavy pressure from Turkey’s NATO allies ahead of next week’s summit of the military alliance at which Ukraine hopes to receive a positive sign about its future membership.
In his remarks, President Zelenskyy gave no explanation for why the commanders were allowed to return home now. Turkey’s Directorate of Communications did not respond to a request for comment.
Thanks to Turkish President
In a ceremony later alongside the men in the western city of Lviv, President Zelenskyy thanked Erdogan for helping secure their release and pledged to bring home all remaining prisoners.
He said that before the outbreak of war, “many people in the world still did not understand what we are, what you are, what to expect from us and what our heroes are. Now everyone understands.”
Many Ukrainians hailed the return of the men.
“Finally! The best news ever. Congratulations to our brothers!” Major Maksym Zhorin, fighting in eastern Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Referring to a counter-offensive launched by Ukrainian forces in the past month, Denys Prokopenko, one of the five commanders, told the gathering that his men “will have our word to say in the battles. The most important thing is that Ukraine has seized the strategic initiative and is advancing.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken marked the 500 days by describing Russia as “the sole obstacle to a just and lasting peace” and promising to back Kyiv “for as long as it takes”.
France’s foreign ministry said the time frame “must bring Russia to the realisation that it is in an impasse and immediately stop its illegal war of aggression”.
The latest US pledge of support included plans to supply widely banned cluster munitions. Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov promised the munitions would not be used in Russia.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Ukrainian forces on Saturday “continued offensive operations” in two sectors in the southeast.
Officials say Ukrainian forces have also taken back areas around the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut — captured by Russian forces in May after month after months of battles.
Via Firstpost World Latest News https://ift.tt/t693uNJ
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