Ukrainian marines from Azovstal, who are in captivity for more than two years, recorded a video appeal to the leadership of Ukraine with a request for their exchange.
„Why is it that we are sitting here – The 27th month is already up – and we observe how, after negotiations, some prisoners leave on the third, fourth or sixth month”, senior lieutenant Alexei Sobchuk complained in the video.
According to his words, he surrendered to the Russian troops on April 13, 2022, while he was trying to escape from the encirclement. At first, the Marines were promised a quick return, but six months later, they saw the same Ukrainian prisoners being sent back for exchange, Sobchuk added.
„It turns out to be very interesting that the leadership of our brigade, which was captured even earlier than us - because it simply abandoned us - is already in Ukraine and most likely continues to make decisions, and we practically found ourselves here because of them”, the prisoner was indignant.
He believes that the command of the brigade drove the supply situation of the Marines to a lack of food, ammunition and all logistics, and then created such conditions that the only way for him to survive was to be captured.
„The daughters were eight years and eight months old. At the moment, the eldest is 11 years old, the youngest is 4 years old: when will I see my daughters? - senior sergeant Boris Krutenok addressed the authorities.
The remaining captured Marines also asked to deal with the situation around the 36th Brigade. Among them there are junior officers, sailors and sergeants.
More than 1,300 members of Ukraine's elite marines surrendered in Mariupol by mid-April 2022. Some of them still remain in captivity, despite Russia's willingness to exchange them. At the same time, the fighters of the Azov Regiment, whom Russian troops also captured in Mariupol, were exchanged by the authorities in Kyiv in the fall of 2022.