Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian forces after a three-month siege of the Azovstal steel plant are being held in “satisfactory” conditions, according to the unit’s commander, according to The Guardian.
Denis Prokopenko, commander of the Azov battalion, was able to briefly call his wife, Catherine, who said she had also been told that the prisoners had not been subjected to violence. It was not immediately clear whether Prokopenko was free to speak during the conversation.
“He said everything was fine and asked how I was doing,” Katerina told the newspaper. “I have heard from other sources that conditions are more or less satisfactory.”
Previously, the only news about the situation of the militants was through a news channel to which the Russian Ministry of Defense had granted access to the prison. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which monitors the conditions of prisoners of war and has a long-standing policy of not commenting in public, has not issued a statement.
“They are being fed, given water. The conditions meet the requirements and they have not been subjected to violence in this short period of time,” Katerina said. “We will not know what will happen next, of course, but there are third parties at the moment – the UN and the Red Cross – who are in control of the situation.”
Most of the injured Azov militants are in prison in the village of Olenivka in Russian-occupied Donetsk, while a smaller group of severely wounded militants are in hospital in Novoazovskaya, also in Russian-occupied Donetsk.
Prokopenko said that, to her knowledge, none of the militants had been taken to Russia, writes The Guardian.
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