The Russian-Ukrainian conflict continued, following the collective surrender of 267 Ukrainian soldiers stationed in Mariupol, more than 1,000 Ukrainian defenders surrendered, and the armed commander of the "Azov Battalion" fled at night, showing the cruelty of the battle in Mariupol.
According to the Global Network, Russian media sources pointed out that Kadyrov, the leader of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, said on the 12th that more than 1,000 Ukrainian Marines surrendered in the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, including hundreds of wounded. Kadyrov said that only a small part of the Ukrainian army is still fighting, "for some reason, they dare not raise the white flag to the Russian army." In addition, some 200 Ukrainian wounded people are hiding deep inside the Azov steel plant, who have no access to medical care. For Ukrainian soldiers, "resistance is useless, they have no fighting power anymore", stopping fighting and returning home is a better option.
In fact, before the surrender of more than 1,000 Ukrainian Marines, Mariupol had already appeared the first Ukrainian soldiers to surrender en masse after the start of the war. It is reported that on April 4, 267 Ukrainian soldiers from the 503rd Battalion of the 36th Brigade of the Ukrainian Marine Corps collectively raised their hands and surrendered. Earlier, the commander of the "Azov Battalion", Major Prokopenko, had told the public that the Azov battalion in the city of Mariupol had now reached the point of running out of ammunition, and his soldiers were being forced to drink water from radiators, sometimes even fainting from hunger. At that time, some analysts pointed out that the first batch of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered collectively were likely to have a chain reaction, which would lead to more collective surrender of Ukrainian troops. Now it seems that such speculation is becoming a reality.
It is worth mentioning that just as more than 1,000 Ukrainian Marines surrendered, the commander of the "Azov Battalion" had fled in the night. According to the website of Russia's Komsomol Pravda newspaper on April 11, Kiva, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament, said that Prokopenko abandoned his troops in Mariupol and escaped from the Russian encirclement. According to Kiva, Prokopenko fled Mariupol in a helicopter and has now arrived in Kiev.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Thatopenko has tried to escape, as at the end of last month, Prokopenko and the commander of the 36th Brigade of the Ukrainian Marine Corps, Barayuk, tried to flee Mariupol by helicopter gunship, but was successfully stopped by the Donetsk civilian armed forces, when the Donetsk civilian forces also used the American -made "Stinger" anti-aircraft missile system to shoot down a Ukrainian military helicopter that came to meet it.
Later, on the evening of April 8, the Ukrainian government tried to evacuate the leader of the Azov Battalion from Mariupol by sea, but after its ship was hit by Russian fire, it ended in failure. At that time, a Ukrainian freighter tried to break through the sea into the harbor of Mariupol, which was blocked by the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and instead of responding to calls from Russian border guards, it continued its voyage. The two Russian Border Patrol vessels fired warning shots at the ship's course and did not cause the other to change course or slow down. Subsequently, a warship of the Black Sea Fleet and a Border Patrol ship shelled the intruding vessel, "causing a direct hit to catch fire in its stern" in one hit.
It should be pointed out that at the moment, the Russian army is regrouping and preparing to concentrate on the offensive in eastern Ukraine, seeking complete control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A few days ago, Putin has appointed the commander of the southern military district, Dvornikov, as the front-line commander, the Tanks and artillery of the Russian army, as well as the troops withdrawn from the surrounding areas of Kiev, have successively arrived in the northern part of the Ukrainian city of Iyyum, and the Ukrainian army has also begun to move from the north of Ukraine to the Donbass region, and all indications show that there will be a big war or even a "decisive battle" in the eastern region.