What actually happened in Azovstal, a lecture or a "rescue operation"?
More than 250 Ukrainian fighters recently emerged from a besieged steelworks Azovstal in Mariupol after secret negotiations for their evacuation. While the Ukrainian army and the Western media avoided using the word "lecture", Describing the operation as an attempt to save as many lives as possible, however, some of the world's media houses are revealing part of the mystery of what exactly happened and where the extraction operation failed.
Peter Hitchins is a longtime London analyst and journalist The Daily Mail says that in the absence of field information about what exactly happened, the western media, especially those in the United Kingdom, used inappropriate terminology for the event, avoiding the word "surrender" to Ukrainian troops.
According to him, the fighters from the Azov Battalion, who were the last to remain in the steel mill on their uniforms, also wore neo-Nazi "SS" insignia, which were not reported by any of the Western media.
- The media in Britain for this event tried not to mention "neo-Nazis" and to avoid the use of the word "surrender". Instead, it was said that the Mariupol garrison had been "evacuated" into Russian-controlled territory. The pictures showed them disarmed and thrown by Russian soldiers. "But we are so caught up in the one-sided view of this conflict that we could not even admit that they capitulated."
According to him, the refusal to accept such an obvious reality is a sign of madness.
- I personally have no idea what British interest serves to support the American policy of inciting problems in Ukraine and inciting Russia to fight. Maybe someone could explain to me, over a plate of chicken and a bottle of vodka. But in order for any debate to take place, we will have to start accepting the reality that there are two sides and arguments in the war - adds Hitchins.
The Ukrainian side announced that the evacuated troops from the steel plant was successfully carried out and according to official Kyiv, in the coming period it will be most important to save the lives of Mariupol defenders.
- We hope that we will be able to save the lives of our boys. I want to emphasize: Ukraine's heroes need Ukraine alive. That is our principle - said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video message.
The ultranationalist regiment later spoke Azov. The evacuation of the fighters means the end of the mission, explained Commander Denis Prokopenko.
"There are absolutely no safe plans and operations in a war," he said, adding that all risks had been taken into account and that as many fighters as possible should be rescued.
On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense recently announced a ceasefire in Mariupol in order to evacuate the injured Ukrainian soldiers from the steel plant.
Moscow has said it has designated "medical facilities" in Novoazovsk as the target of an evacuation of Ukrainian fighters, without specifying what will happen to the troops and what their fate will be.