Ukraine War: Russia Begins Handing Over Remains of Fighter Jets Killed in Bombardment of Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol | World News

Russia has begun handing over the remains of Ukrainian fighters killed in the Azovstal steel plant, the last site of the battle for Mariupol.

According to a spokesman for the Azov Regiment and one of its military leaders, dozens of bodies from the complex and its labyrinth are being brought to Kyiv for DNA testing.

This regiment was among the Ukrainian forces that gathered with civilians in the steel mills when it was bombarded by Russian attacks for about three months.

Ukrainian forces in Azovstal surrendered in May in bad conditionsgave Russia control of the southern city that had suffered the worst attack of the war.

It is unclear how many bodies may still be inside the factory.

The fate of many boxers allowed to leave is also uncertain and President Zelenskyy said 2,500 of them are in custody.

The first official to confirm the exchange of military remains since the fighting began on Saturday in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to Ukrainian officials.

Each side received 160 bodies.

Anna Holovko, a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment, said all Ukrainians were from Azovstal and at least 52 were believed to be from the regiment.

A former Azov leader now in Kyiv, Maksym Zhorin, confirmed that bodies from the steel mill were among those exchanged.

Sievierodonetsk heroes ‘didn’t give up’

Currently Russia is focusing on the Donbas – an area in eastern Ukraine that it is determined to capture after failing to capture other areas, such as the capital Kyiv.

Sievierodonetsk, a city of about 100,000 people, is key to that plan and the fierce battles that are taking place.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was near the front lines earlier this week. In his nightly address on Monday, he said: “Our heroes do not give up their positions in Sievierodonetsk.

“In the city, fierce street fighting continues.”

The country’s defense ministry says Russia is adding troops and equipment as it tries to capture the city – Ukraine’s largest remaining city in Luhansk – one of the two regions that make up the Donbas.

According to Oleksandr Stryuk, the head of the Sievierodonetsk government, the battle looks ready with “the situation changing from hour to hour”.

Zelenskyy also warned that Russia wants to capture the city of Zaporizhzhia, in the southeast, home to more than 700,000 people, a move that could bring the enemy closer to central Ukraine.

“In the Zaporizhzhia region … there is the most threatening situation there,” the president said.

Both the UK and the US are send precision long-range missile systems to Ukraine so that it could confront the Russian artillery that was causing so much damage in the Donbas.

President Putin warned on Sunday that new targets would be hit if the West provides such weapons. On the same day, missiles hit Kyiv for the first time in more than a month.

Britons could face the death penalty

On Monday, two people were killed in shelling in Donetsk and Luhansk as Russian forces fired on more than 20 communities, the Ukrainian military said. Russia denies targeting civilians.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said Russia was moving toward Sloviansk, a city about 53 miles (85 km) west of Sievierodonetsk.

The governor of the Donetsk region Pavlo Kyrylenko said on television: “The front lines are under constant shelling.

“The enemy is also shelling near Lyman with the aim of destroying our defensive positions and entering Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. There is also shelling on Svyatohirsk with a similar purpose.”

Efforts are underway to evacuate people from the area, including from Sloviansk, where about 24,000 people are still there.

“People are understanding, even though it’s late, it’s time to leave,” Kyrylenko said.

In another development, three British men believed to be mercenaries for Ukraine are on trial in the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic, the self-declared separatist region’s president said.

They could face the death penalty if convicted on charges of trying to take power.

Many foreigners with military experience have come to Ukraine from all over the world to fight in the war.