DoD expects Russia to treat Azovstal fighters in line with GC

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The United States expects the Russian Federation to follow the Geneva convention in its treatment of the Ukrainian fighters who recently surrendered in Azovstal, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday.

"Our expectation is that all prisoners of war will be treated in accordance with the Geneva convention," he told a briefing. 

The Russian military had reported earlier today that 771 Ukrainian militants from the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, who had been locked in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol over the past week due to a Russian-imposed siege on the area, surrendered in the past 24 hours. This brought up the total number of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered this week at the plant to 1,730.

"In total, since May 16, 1,730 militants have surrendered, including 80 wounded," the Russian defense ministry said.

The ministry released a video of the surrendered soldiers walking out of the steel plant, some of the soldiers were clearly wounded while others were walking on crutches. Russian soldiers patted them down as they inspected their bags before exiting.

Kiev's forces trapped at Azovstal had reached an agreement on removing the wounded from the steel plant and transferring them to medical facilities in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), according to a Russian Defense Ministry press briefing on Monday.

The Azov battalion is a part of the Ukrainian National Guard - a wing of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. It flaunts its Nazism very openly and is even notoriously known for a video in which they crucified a soldier, tortured him, and burnt him alive.

Mariupol has been a playground for Ukrainian provocations since the war broke out in the country on February 24. The Russian Defense Ministry had revealed that Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol used about 150 civilians as human shields and opened fire against DPR fighters from behind the civilians' backs.

Azov battalion militants had also opened fire against civilians during evacuations from the city, resulting in the death of two people and the injury of four others, the DPR previously reported.

Talks between Milley, Gerasimov 'good thing' - Pentagon

The recent round of talks between US Joint Chief of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley and Chief of Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov is a good thing, Kirby said Thursday.

Earlier Thursday, Milley and Gerasimov spoke to address security-related matters and agreed to keep open lines of communication. However, the details of their conversation were kept private. 

"The secretary was glad to see that the conversation happened. We believe that it is important for the line of communication to be open, so the fact that General Milley was, for the first time since I think the 11th of February, able to speak to Gen. Gerasimov... we certainly believe that's a good thing," he told reporters.

US yet to send advanced anti-ship missiles to Ukraine

Kirby also claimed that the United States was yet to approve the transfer of or send advanced anti-ship missiles to Ukraine since the start of the war in the country.

"I'm not going to speculate about systems that haven't been sent or approved to be sent yet," Kirby said during a press briefing when asked about recent reports concerning possible anti-ship missiles transfer to Ukraine.

This comes as the US Congress prepares to allocate $40 billion in funds for Ukraine as promised by President Joe Biden to affirm Washington's support for Kiev.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the United States had already given Kiev some $1 billion in economic aid, in addition to an additional $500 million cleared last week, not to mention the military aid the United States gave to Kiev since Biden took office.

The US is still sending arms to Ukraine despite the Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, warning that the influx of Western arms to the conflict zone in Ukraine was adding fuel to the fire.